


Changes

by pointsweremade



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Compliant, How Do I Tag, M/M, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Non-Graphic Smut, Not Beta Read, Volleyball Dorks in Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:15:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 24,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27590539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pointsweremade/pseuds/pointsweremade
Summary: Yamaguchi and Kageyama are mutually pining for each other. Too bad Hinata and Tsukishima won't stop being horny long enough to be of any help.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Tsukishima Kei, Kageyama Tobio/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 42
Kudos: 176





	1. One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um, two things:
> 
> 1\. This is my first piece of writing ever - like, literally ever in the history of ever. I dunno why I felt compelled to write it, but the idea literally wouldn't leave my head for a week and I needed it gone.
> 
> 2\. This is absolutely TsukiHina disguised as KageYama (Yes, I used that ship name for them. It's hilarious and I don't take criticism for it).
> 
> Anyway, hope this isn't tragic if anyone reads it at all! xx

Thursdays are a weird day for Yamaguchi.

If you asked him what his Thursday includes in May, he’d answer _the usual_. Because he _had_ a usual back then – a _routine_ , essentially, considering all his weekdays used to look the same. Wake up at 6:16am, after snoozing his alarm twice, eat one slice of dry toast after getting ready, because he never has time for anything more, and meet Tsukishima at the end of the block to walk to school together. They’d walk to school together, go through morning practice together, go to classes together, eat lunch together, go through afternoon practice together – you get the picture. Typical high school things for a typical high school boy, with the exception that he really only had one friend.

But it’s almost October now and things change, and people change, and routines _change_ ; and Yamaguchi’s own life is no exception to this. He’s gone through a volleyball tournament (and lost), he’s gone through two separate training camps, he’s watched Tsukishima grow in ways that he’s not-so-secretly _incredibly_ proud of, and he himself has grown in ways that he didn’t expect. And he didn’t really realise this until he noticed that his daily routine had started to shift.

So, yeah, Thursdays are weird.

The first change is a daily one. When Yamaguchi and Tsukishima get to the school gates they – everyday, without fail – will hear a _Tsukki! Tadashi!_ from somewhere behind them. This means that Hinata will undoubtedly be hurrying up to them on his bike, Kageyama balancing on the sides of its back wheel and holding onto Hinata’s shoulders.

The two used to meet at school, but as previously mentioned, things change.

They’ll all head to the bike racks before heading to the club room for morning practice, Hinata and Yamaguchi talking up a storm with the occasional interjections with from the taller two.

And that’s another change that he notices – the four of them _actually_ get along. _Yes_ , the occasional sarcastic remark comes along but almost never with malice or snideness that it would’ve held not even two months ago.

This morning Hinata is doing a theatrical retelling of his admittedly uneventful dinner from last night, but Yamaguchi indulges him anyway.

“-and then Natsu throws the bowl _across the room_ and _right into the sink_! Mum was so stunned she didn’t even get angry – which, like, _totally_ unfair because if I did that then I just _know_ -”

“Dumbass, stop talking and open the door already,” Kageyama interrupts impatiently and it’s only then that Yamaguchi realises they’ve made it to the club room.

“ _Bakageyama_ , why can’t you just let me finish my story!” Hinata yells back, but rummages through his bag for the key, nonetheless. Yamaguchi still isn’t sure how he was able to convince the captain to give him a copy of it, considering only he and the vice-captain should be the only ones with it and Hinata is probably the least responsible of the four of them. He tried to question it once and all he got was a head tilt and a _why wouldn’t they give it to me?_ and decided it wasn’t worth asking again.

“Because you take a 10 years to describe 10 minutes,” Tsukishima replies, not looking up from his phone. Hinata just sticks his tongue and mumbles an insult under his breath, getting a little nose exhale from Yamaguchi as they walk in to change before practice.

He guesses this is another change, being the first ones to practice. Before, he and Tsukishima would come in just before practice was meant to begin. Now, they arrive a bit earlier and the other two a bit later, so they get a solid 30 minutes with just the four of them in the gym before anyone else arrives. Yamaguchi probably wouldn’t have ever minded coming this early, but before the training camps Tsukishima would’ve been caught dead before putting extra effort into the club.

As they run through morning practice, Yamaguchi wonders, not for the first time, just how much things can really change.

Considering the second biggest change in his daily routine begins after morning practice, he decides, not for the first time, _a lot_.

First period every Thursday brings gym class for three of the four first years, so Yamaguchi, Tsukishima and Kageyama don’t change before heading in for class. Each first-year class has two periods of gym a week – one for actual assessment and one just to play sports. Thursday morning’s class is the latter for all three and Yamaguchi and Tsukishima’s class often combines with Kageyama’s to play team sports.

Today isn’t much different, they’re in one of the gym’s getting ready to play basketball. Like anything that doesn’t directly affect his grades or his overall quality of life, Tsukishima has put in the bare minimum effort for these Thursday gym classes, unless he wants to rile up Kageyama. However, since coming back from summer break, Tsukishima has slipped away almost every single Thursday morning, before reappearing in his normal uniform for Maths in second period.

At first, he would sit out because he claimed he was feeling sick before disappearing once the game started, despite being completely fine earlier. Then, he would claim he injured himself during morning practice and go off to the nurse, even though he showed no sign of injury prior to class. Now, he just slinks off before anyone can question it.

Yamaguchi has tried to ask him about it, but he’s always deflected with a less than subtle topic change or blunt _don’t worry about it_ , so now he just makes excuses for his tall friend.

“ _Tsukki_ has gone to the nurse because he jarred his fingers this morning in practice,” he says to the teacher as they’re warming up before the game. He just grunts and nods, also used to the blond disappearing from class, but not wanting to complain considering his grades haven’t dipped since this behaviour started. He tells Yamaguchi to help get the equipment and warm up before walking over to the teacher of the other class.

“I don’t know why you cover for him every time,” a voice suddenly says from behind him, backing the freckled boy jump. He turns to see Kageyama standing behind him, face set in a light grimace and blue eyes piercing through Yamaguchi. His arms are firmly crossed and he’s slouching just the slightest. “I mean, he doesn’t even tell you where he _goes_ , but he expects you to just help him.”

Yamaguchi laughs lightly, walking to the equipment room with Kageyama on his heel, “he’s my best friend. Even though he acts like that, I know he’d do the same for me.” Kageyama grumbles unintelligibly, helping him wheel a trolley full of basketballs out of the equipment room for people to use for practice. “I’d do the same for you, too.” Kageyama flushes at that, makes a hybrid noise of a growl and a squeak, and walks off with a basketball. Yamaguchi follows behind him, laughing all the way.

Because the four first years from the volleyball club get along so well now, Yamaguchi doesn’t feel alone when Tsukishima disappears on Thursday mornings. Their friendship took off after the reluctant study sessions from before the summer training camps turned into weekly study sessions, which in turn became weekly after school hangouts. Yamaguchi won’t ever say it aloud, but it was a bit weird to see Tsukishima go from intentionally causing conflict with the other two to offering to buy Hinata a drink almost every time they went to a café without expecting anything in return.

What’s even weirder to Yamaguchi though, is his own closeness to Kageyama. He was already friends with Tsukishima, and Hinata could befriend a frog if he tried hard enough, but Kageyama and him really had no common ground to relate on. And yet, Yamaguchi can’t remember the last time he had to force a conversation with the setter. Every interaction they have is genuine and they actually get on incredibly well.

 _Although_ , Yamaguchi thinks as he walks past some girls throwing balls back and forth, _that could be because of-_

“ _Watch out!_ ” is all the warning he gets before a basketball smashes into his face, sending him down to the ground. A few shrieks resound throughout the gym and Yamaguchi feels someone’s hands on his arms, stabilising him and preventing him from falling further on his back.

When he opens his eyes, he sees Kageyama incredibly close to his face, probably assessing how bad the hit was, and Yamaguchi realises it’s his hands on his arms. Behind him stands two girls with guilty expressions, indicating to himself that the ball probably came from a misthrow from one of them, and both teachers.

Kageyama’s eyes widen slightly as he says, “you’re bleeding!” and when Yamaguchi feels a warm liquid run down his lips he internally agrees.

“It’s fine!” He reassures, starting to get off the ground. “It’s probably just a nosebleed, nothing serious.” He directs this at the two girls to quell their worry, but it doesn’t do much when he starts to stagger as he gets on his feet and Kageyama catches him before he can fall.

His gym teacher steps forward and looks intensely at his face, holding up two fingers, “Yamaguchi, how many fingers am I holding up?”

“Two.”

“What day is it today?”

“Thursday, and we’re in gym class and we’re playing basketball today with Class 2. I’m fine really!”

His teacher looks unsure, “Your nose is bleeding, but the impact broke some skin as well. Go to the nurse’s office to get patched up, don’t come back to class for today, I won’t let you play anyway.” He looks at Kageyama, still holding onto Yamaguchi’s right bicep. “You go with him, make sure he doesn’t have a head injury or anything.”

Kageyama nods and, despite Yamaguchi’s protests, the two swiftly leave the gym and head to the nurse’s office.

“I know you don’t like causing a fuss, but that was a pretty hard hit, you shouldn’t downplay it.” Kageyama says as they make their way up the staircase to the second floor. His hand has left Yamaguchi’s arm, but rests on the small of his back, a point of contact that almost burns as Yamaguchi flushes. He doesn’t want to think about when Kageyama got so good at reading him, considering that’s never something Yamaguchi would openly admit to others.

Instead of replying, he changes the topic. “Am I still coming over after practice?” he asks as they reach the nurse’s office.

Kageyama raises a questioning eyebrow, “It’s Thursday, so yes,” he replies, as if it’s obvious – which, considering their situation, it just might be – and goes to pull open the sliding door, only to find it locked.

They both stare at it for a few moments before Yamaguchi shrugs, “it’s only a small injury anyway, the nurse is probably out. Let’s just go to the taps, so I can wash-”

“Stop that,” Kageyama grumbles, rummaging in his shorts pocket for a few second before pulling out a piece of paper and folding it a few times. “It’s a sliding door lock, I just need to flick it up with this.”

“Kageyama!” Yamaguchi whisper-shouts. “You can’t just _break into_ the nurse’s office!”

Kageyama ignores this, leaning forward slightly and sliding the folded paper in the gap between the door and the wall, “Sure, I can, you need medical attention and he’s not here. No one’s going to get angry at a student who got _hit in the face_ and needs a cut disinfected- _Ah!_ Got it!” He says as he flicks the lock up, quietly pushing the door open.

When they step into the room they think it’s empty. The nurse isn’t at the desk and the beds don’t have an ailing students on them. However, as the two stand there they notice heavy breathing and shuffling from the back corner of the room, where the curtain has been drawn around one of the beds. The two exchange a look before walking over to inspect, and Yamaguchi is half-worried someone might be _dying_ with how dramatic the noises are.

When Kageyama pulls back the curtain, they both expect to find a student with a cold or stomach-ache trying to reach for something from the bedside table.

What they _don’t_ expect to see is a student sitting on the edge of the bed with another student crouched between his legs, heading moving up and down on what Yamaguchi realises is the other student’s _dick_.

He squeaks loudly, covering his eyes, while Kageyama yells a quick _sorry!_ before pulling the curtain back closed. When Yamaguchi uncovers his eyes and looks at him they both realise something.

“Wait,” Yamaguchi says slowly, “Was that-”

He doesn’t get to finish because Kageyama pulls the curtain back open to reveal Tsukishima lying on the bed and Hinata sitting on the bedside table, as if they _weren’t_ just caught engaging in fellatio by their best friends. In fact, the only indicator that _anything_ happened is the slight flush on both their cheeks.

Yamaguchi and Kageyama aren’t really sure how to approach _whatever it is_ they just saw, but Hinata seems to already have a plan.

“’Dashi! Yama-Yama!” He exclaims as he hops off the bedside table and hits Tsukishima’s side to get him sitting up. “What brings you here?” He walks slowly over to the two, who still stand shell-shocked at the curtain. When he’s directly in front of them, he gets a good luck at Yamaguchi’s face and gasps, “Oh no, your face! Sit down at the desk, I can help you with it!”

He smiles wide, leading Yamaguchi over to the little stool by the side of the desk, but all Yamaguchi can think is _you had my best friend’s dick in your mouth less than a minute ago_.

Kageyama follows behind silently, probably still trying to wrap his head around the situation, and Tsukishima stands up from the bed and moves to the curtain. Once Yamaguchi and Kageyama sit down, they look at each other in confusion before looking at Tsukishima, who is pointedly looking only at Hinata, who is busy going through the medicine cabinet on the wall. He has a box of cotton swabs in his left hand and is on his toes, his right hand trying and failing to reach the disinfectant on the tallest shelf.

Tsukishima clicks his tongue, causing the seated two to look at him as he walks over to Hinata, “Shō, you’ll knock something over if you do that.” He says as he reaches over the short ginger to grab the disinfectant, giving it to him when he turns around.

 _Shō?_ When did _that_ happen? Yamaguchi knows they’re all close, but he’s never heard Tsukishima call _anyone_ their first name before.

“Thanks Kei,” Hinata says, a bright smile still on his face, but it feels softer and Yamaguchi feels as if he’s just seen a private moment and looks away.

 _Kei?_ He can’t seem to wrap his head around anything right now. When he spares a glance at Kageyama, he’s thankful that he’s not alone in his confusion if the expression the setter wears is even half as genuine as it looks.

Hinata talks throughout his treatment, but not about what the two really want to know about. In fact, he blatantly lies as he swipes some disinfectant on the cut. “Tsukishima was feeling pretty sick after practice, so I took him here.” Yamaguchi notices it’s _Tsukishima_ again. “The nurse comes late on Thursdays because he has to take his grandma to the doctor or something like that!” _Ah_ , that explains that then. “Anyway, the cut’s all clean now, but your nose still looks a bit tender. Did you get hit in the face by a ball? Don’t worry that happens to me all the time-”

“We know, we see it almost every time, Shrimp.” _Shrimp?_ Did they accidentally use their first names before? Yamaguchi feels like his head is about to explode and it’s not because of his injury.

“Shut up, _Stupidshima_! Anyway, you might have a bit of a headache, so stay here until the end of period. Tsukishima’s feeling better now so I’ll get him to walk me back to class and then tell your teacher what happened. Kageyama, stay with Tadashi in case he feels _blergh_ or anything, okay?” Suddenly, Hinata stands up and walks towards the door, a silent Tsukishima in tow. “We’ll see you guys at lunch!” He waves before closing the door, leaving an entirely stunned Kageyama and Yamaguchi behind.

They both stare at the closed door for a few seconds, like it’ll answer all their burning questions, before looking at each with incredulity in their eyes. Kageyama is the first to break the silence.

“ _What_ just happened?”

***

“You can’t blame this on me, it was _your_ turn to lock the door!” Hinata exclaims as he and Tsukishima walk down the hall.

Tsukishima rolls his eyes, “And I did, idiot. It’s not that hard of a door to unlock, I just didn’t expect anyone to actually try and _break in_ when it’s clear the nurse isn’t there.” He says with a slightly exasperated tone. Hinata knows it just means he’s embarrassed, and the red tinge to his ears proves it. “What I don’t get is how I didn’t hear them.”

Hinata smiles slyly, “You were just too pre-occupied by my _amazing_ blow job skills to notice anything else.” He giggles before yelping as Tsukishima grips the top of his head roughly. “Kei! Let go!”

“I’m surprise you even _know_ the word ‘pre-occupied’,” He smirks, softening his grip and moving his hand down to Hinata’s bicep. “C’mon let’s go.”

“Go where? We need to split up at the stairs, my class it just down the hall. You should know that Kei.” Hinata pouts.

“We’re going to the roof; Do you really think I’m just going to let you leave without finishing what you started?” The pair ascend the staircase to the rooftop, Tsukishima’s hand now firmly gripping Hinata’s, a small smirk playing on his lips as we looks back.

Hinata blushes slightly, nodding as he lets himself get dragged along. It’s quiet as they make their way up the steps and he waits until Tsukishima has him pressed against a wall on the roof to say, “You know, they clearly caught us. We should probably just outright tell them now.”

Tsukishima groans, “Shut up. That can wait until _after_ we’ve both finished.” And then he leans down and presses his lips firmly on Hinata’s.

***

Hinata and Tsukishima spend the rest of the day actively ignoring the elephant in the room and Yamaguchi thinks that he and Kageyama are pretty okay with that for the moment, considering they haven’t really wrapped their heads around what they saw yet. So, he doesn’t bring it up during class or lunch, and he doesn’t mention it when walking to the club room or during practice. He doesn’t even mention it on the walk back to Kageyama’s house once they’ve departed from Hinata and Tsukishima.

This is another change in his routine. While he used to walk home with Tsukishima every day, the blond has started going to the store on Thursdays to do some grocery shopping for his mum, who’s shift has changed at work. Hinata has to babysit his little sister on Thursday nights for the same reason, so there’s never anyone around to question why Yamaguchi goes over to Kageyama’s house every Thursday.

Which is definitely a good thing, because he doesn’t really want anyone to know about the final change to his routine.

Once inside Kageyama’s room, they open their books on the small coffee table and sit side by side, Yamaguchi on Kageyama’s right. They sit in silence for a good five minutes while reading through what they did during the day before Kageyama inevitably asks for help translating a sentence in his English homework.

“We’ve gone through this rule before, you need to use past tense here. It says it in the question,” Yamaguchi sighs, circling the keyword of the question.

Kageyama scowls at the page, “I don’t get it.”

Yamaguchi laughs, writing out the correct sentence under his original answer. “You’re close with what you’ve written here, and you’d get partial marks for it in a test; But see this word here-” he cuts himself off as he looks up at Kageyama only to find cobalt blue eyes already looking back at him.

Yamaguchi is suddenly hyper aware of the warm and firm thigh pressed against his own, the way Kageyama is leaning just slightly over his shoulder, his arm around Yamaguchi’s back and resting next to his right hip. He’s aware of just how _close_ Kageyama’s face is to his, how his eyes flick over Yamaguchi’s features as his own eyes do the same. He admires the setter’s flushed cheeks, the dark lashes that frame his impossibly bright eyes, his pink and chapped lips, now only centimetres from his own as their breaths become shallow and short, too little air between to _not_ be shared.

And Yamaguchi closes his eyes, leaning forwards slightly as Kageyama undoubtedly does the same, until he feels those pink chapped lips being pressed onto his own.

It starts off as innocent brushing of skin, both too awkward to begin with anything more intense, until Kageyama pushes slightly harder and then they’re kissing in earnest, lips moving firmly against lips. Yamaguchi places his hands on the taller boy’s shoulders, gripping lightly as Kageyama manoeuvres them so Yamaguchi sits with his back pressed against the table, legs spread as he sits in the raven-haired boy’s lap slightly.

More comfortable, they fall into the kiss earnestly, lips moving and tongues meeting as they continue their ministrations. Yamaguchi sighs into the kiss as Kageyama kneads his thighs with burning hands while his hands move up into black hair, tangling at the very edges, eliciting soft groans that get instantly swallowed up by their lips.

It’s exhilarating, and exciting, and _good_ , and Yamaguchi doesn’t want to stop – wants to think of nothing and kiss for hours on end until their lips are red and swollen and their faces sufficiently flushed.

Except Kageyama’s hand moves up his thigh and brushes where his shorts meet his skin, dangerously close to inside seam of his leg and suddenly all Yamaguchi can think is that _Tsukishima and Hinata have probably done this, too_. And instead of thinking of nothing, he’s now thinking of _everything_ and he can’t _stop himself_.

Yamaguchi only notices how distracted he is when Kageyama pulls back, a questioning look on his face when Yamaguchi opens his eyes. “Everything okay?” He asks.

Yamaguchi sighs, “Yeah, I just…” He trails off, not really sure where to begin. I mean, how do you casually bring up that you were thinking about your two best friends getting it on while you, yourself, are also getting it on? He ponders for a couple seconds before blurting out, “Do you think they’re dating?”

Kageyama’s nose scrunches, “Hinata and Tsukishima?” Yamaguchi nods. “Who knows, they might’ve just been… letting off steam?” He suggests, clearly unsure of whether his conclusion was correct or not.

“Right, but you don’t really _do_ that with someone you’re not dating.” Yamaguchi tries to argue, but then Kageyama looks at him weirdly before looking down at their bodies, Yamaguchi’s legs thrown over his where he’d been pulled further onto the setter’s lap, arms around his shoulders where his hands rested in his hair.

“We’re literally doing this and _we’re_ not dating,” He points out, pressing on Yamaguchi’s thighs slightly, and Yamaguchi really can’t refute that _at all_ because it’s entirely _true_.

Because this is probably the final major change in Yamaguchi’s _routine_.

Kageyama and him started off… unorthodox. It was Yamaguchi who proposed the idea to him, during a study session one day when Tsukishima and Hinata couldn’t make it, back in August. The day before, when the four had gone to a café after practice, the topic of kissing had popped up, prompted by a couple that was overly affectionate a couple tables down from them. Yamaguchi had fleeting crushes in his school life and while he was open with Tsukishima about his like for both boys and girls, he had never been interested in someone enough to actually want to try pursuing anything. So, he hadn’t had his first kiss yet, which he eventually admitted to the other three first years. Well, to Hinata and Kageyama, because Tsukishima already knew.

And when Hinata mentioned that he’d already kissed someone, Yamaguchi was slightly shocked. The boy, while not entirely innocent, always seemed so uninterested in anything not volleyball related, Yamaguchi always just assumed romance was never really something he’d put effort into. But what really shook him was when Tsukishima _also_ admitted to already having kissed someone – I mean, that’s his best friend!

But, in light of what they witnessed earlier today, he can deduce who their first kisses were.

So, slightly put out and a bit envious, Yamaguchi turned to Kageyama, who he’d found out that same day that he had not kissed anyone, and he was interested in boys. It was a bit of a dumb idea, in all honesty, because if it backfired things between the two would be painfully awkward – especially considering just how awkward the both of them are naturally. But bent on experiencing what his other friends apparently already had and now interested in the blue-eyed boy after discovering his gender preference, Yamaguchi just blurted out the suggestion.

“What if we kissed?”

Kageyama looked up from his homework with a blank look, not entirely sure of what he just said. He looked for a few seconds longer before his cheeks flushed and his eyebrows drew together in confusion. “W-what?” He stuttered.

Yamaguchi swallowed thickly, “What if we… kissed,” He stated slowly, as if over-enunciating every syllable would prevent his demise. “Not, like, romantically or anything! Just for, you know… experience?”

Kageyama was silent again for a few seconds. “Experience?” He finally asked, and upon a nod from Yamaguchi, continued, “Why would you want to kiss me?”

Yamaguchi sighed, “Well, it’d be a bit weird to ask Tsukki, and I’m not really attracted to Hinata in… that way?” He groaned as he realised just how _stupid_ this sounded out loud. “God, I sound like an idiot! But, I don’t know, you haven’t kissed anyone and neither have I and we both like guys and I just thought, you know, for experience, we could…”

“Kiss?” Kageyama finished.

Yamaguchi huffed out a laugh, looking at his lap as he fidgeted with his hands, “Yeah.”

They sat in uncomfortable silence for what seemed like a long time before Kageyama let out a small _Okay_ , causing Yamaguchi to snap his head up and look at the setter incredulously.

“Okay?” Yamaguchi asked.

Kageyama nodded, “Yeah. I mean, it makes sense I guess. So, let’s do it.”

And now, almost two months later, their _arrangement_ was still going on, with them stealing kisses whenever they really had the chance. Once Hinata and Tsukishima started bailing out on Thursday study sessions, it got easier to have a few hours to themselves to really explore, but they’d never extended past passionate kisses and fleeting touches.

And what they saw in the nurse’s office today was just a _little bit more_ than a fleeting touch.

“Right,” He says in response to Kageyama’s earlier revelation. “But like, we just kiss and stuff, Hinata was _sucking Tsukki’s dick_.” Kageyama wrinkles his nose at the reminder of what they both unfortunately witnessed today. “I don’t know, it just seems like they’ve tried a lot, if they’re not dating.”

Kageyama looks down at their laps, fingers still caressing Yamaguchi’s thighs, causing minuscule shivers to run down his spine. “Do you want to try that stuff?” Kageyama asks, looking up into his eyes with impossibly blue irises. Not for the first time, Yamaguchi admires just how truly _attractive_ Kageyama is and how on _earth_ he got someone this hot to kiss him.

And then he realises what Kageyama said.

He sucks in air quickly, choking on some spit and coughing ridiculously, “Wha- _What?!_ ” He near screeches, causing a hand to leave his thigh and cover his mouth. It’d probably be inappropriate to tell him to put his hand back on his leg and keep stroking it, but he thinks about it, nonetheless.

Kageyama shrugs, “Well, we’ve been doing this for a couple months and we’ve been going a little further each time. Besides you said it before, we both like guys. So, I don’t know, maybe we could try going a little further.”

At Yamaguchi’s stunned silence, he frowns and quickly adds, “But if you’re not comfortable with it we can keep going how we are now.”

“No!” Yamaguchi says, almost too quickly. “No, I- That’d-” He takes a deep breath, grounding himself before looking down at Kageyama, “I’d like to… to try. Maybe we can start smaller, though, like… just direct touching- _down there_?” He finally manages to get out.

Kageyama nods, “Yeah, okay.” And then his lips are back on Yamaguchi’s, forceful and searing, the same as before but _oh so different_. There’s a fire behind the kiss now, lit by the idea of exploring each other just a little bit more.

Their tongues intertwine as Yamaguchi tugs at inky hair, relishing the soft sounds that leave Kageyama’s mouth. He feels warm hands move past the barrier of his shorts, slipping underneath to explore the hidden skin that is so dangerously high up his thighs. Kageyama’s hands are so large that his finger splay over the outside of his legs, while his thumbs caress his inner thighs so softly that Yamaguchi can already feel himself stirring, the spike of arousal sitting low in his gut.

He gasps as he pulls back, only to trail more kisses down the other boy’s check, moving his way down his neck, nipping and sucking lightly as he still pulls at midnight hair. The sounds leaving Kageyama’s throat are heavenly, so low and rich he feels he could listen to it forever.

He continues his ministrations, intent on drawing every last sound out from Kageyama, until he feels hands reaching under his shirt, brushing the clammy skin as they finger his waistband, silently asking for permission.

“Is this okay?” Kageyama whispers in his ear, unaware of the effect he has on Yamaguchi, who’s breath hitches where he’s paused over the pale neck. He’s suddenly nervous, a bit apprehensive of what crossing this boundary will do to them.

Because Yamaguchi has noticed for a while – how his eyes linger just slightly on Kageyama, how he’s always aware of the setter’s presence, always looking to find him first in a room of people. He _knows_ this, knows it a silly little feeling that goes just slightly beyond the arrangement they’ve agreed on. And he doesn’t know whether crossing this line will cause these feelings – that are so miniscule Yamaguchi doesn’t even name them – to blossom into something _more_.

He pulls back to look into Kageyama’s eyes and finds in them a reassurance he didn’t realise he needed. Cobalt blue eyes stare back at him unfalteringly, letting him know wordlessly that, even though they’ll be lifting their limits if they take this next step, Yamaguchi will always have the power to put them right back.

And maybe it’s not the best idea, but Yamaguchi finds himself nodding, unable to deny the _security_ Kageyama offers him in his eyes.

Kageyama nods back, leaning back in to capture Yamaguchi’s lips in his as his finger slowly hook around the waistband of his shorts.

And – _god_ , Yamaguchi can’t wait. He feverishly kisses back, hands gripping hair to press their faces impossibly closer as he feels Kageyama pull his shorts down slightly, pressing and kneading the skin around his hips.

Yamaguchi moans out loud then, can’t help the sudden _need_ that has been instilled within him, wants to pull back and yell at the setter to _hurry up, hurry up, hurry up-_

“Kageyama, Miwa told me- _Oh_!” A high-pitched voice yells from the door, startling the two wrapped in each other enough that they pull apart instantly. Their chests heave in an attempt to get more oxygen, breathing ragged from their activities and the sheer fright the sudden intrusion caused them.

They look to the door to find a stunned Hinata standing with the door opened, a plate of cake in one hand and the door handle in the other. They stare at him as he stares at them, and Yamaguchi is painfully aware of how they must look.

His hands are frozen, wrapped around Kageyama’s shoulders with his hands still entangled in his hair, while Kageyama’s hands are still disappeared under his shirt, although they have (disappointingly) pulled out of his shorts. They still sit with Yamaguchi pressed to the table and in Kageyama’s laps and the freckled boy is almost certain they must look like absolute _messes_ – lips red and swollen, cheeks flushed impossibly bright, eyes still carrying the slightest remains of unadulterated want, and hair mussed and wild.

Hinata finally breaks the silence with a little chuckle and a sly smile, “Oh? What’s this?” And Yamaguchi can’t believe they never guessed that Hinata had been spending more time with Tsukishima.

Yamaguchi snaps out of his shock first. “Uh!” He says lamely. “It’s- Uh- It’s! It’s not what it looks like!” He finally gets out, moving his hands to Kageyama’s chest and lightly pushing him away, effectively snapping the other boy out of his daze.

“Hm? And tell me, Tadashi, _what_ does it look like?” Hinata teases, voice betraying just how comedic he finds this whole situation. And it is funny, when you consider the unintentional role reversal they’ve just committed to.

Yamaguchi splutters, unable to find an excuse, before Kageyama speaks up, “We were fighting.”

Yamaguchi stops at this, looking at the setter with the most incredulous eyes, while Hinata just raises an eyebrow and scoffs.

“Fighting?” He asks, just as incredulously as Yamaguchi feels. He looks at Kageyama for a few seconds longer, who looks back at him and shrugs with wide eyes, as if telling him _I panicked! I’m sorry!_

Yamaguchi takes a deep breath, looks back at Hinata with an awkward smile, face flushing stupidly hot. “Yeah, we were… fighting.”

Hinata flicks his scrutinising gaze between the two of them for what feels like an eternity before laughing high and loud, closing his eyes and slapping his hand on his knee like they’d just performed a skit.

He walks further into the room and places the cake on the dresser just next to the door before turning back to them and winking exaggeratedly, “Right, well. I was coming over to talk about today, but it seems like maybe I’ll just go see Kei and doing a little… fighting… of our own.” He laughs again as he moves back to the door. “I think we _all_ have some explaining to do tomorrow.” He grins wickedly as he looks at them one last time before closing the door behind him.

As his footsteps move further away down the hallway and down the stairs, Yamaguchi and Kageyama continue to stare at each other in complete silence, unwilling to verbally acknowledge what just happened exactly.

It takes a long while for the two to fully separate, settling back down in awkward silence to continue on with their homework, the mood long soured and forgotten with the untimely intrusion of their ginger friend.

Yamaguchi sighs internally, _Thursdays are weird indeed_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That fact that manoeuvre is spelt like that makes me irrationally angry. Massive props to user hm for giving me ō so I could write Shō and not Shou.
> 
> If anyone read this and feels the need to comment, please do! But I'm also doing this for my own satisfaction so I can finally sleep peacefully at night, so no obligation!


	2. Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Turns out this story won't let me rest just yet, so here's another painfully mediocre chapter. This one was really hard to write and the characters are probably super OOC, sorry about that!
> 
> Anyway, hope whoever reads this enjoys it just a little!

Kageyama likes Yamaguchi.

That’s a fact that he’s tried to ignore for the past month, but after the events of last night there’s _really_ no way of denying it now. _I asked if he wanted to go to second base_ , he groans internally, scrubbing his hands over his face as he lies in bed the next morning, _what the_ fuck _was I thinking?_

And the issue was, he wasn’t thinking. Because his god damn _crush_ was sitting on top of him, tugging at his hair and letting out a genuine _moan_ whenever Kageyama’s fingers brushed slightly too close to his sensitive areas. And he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to explore every inch of Yamaguchi, starting with said sensitive areas.

So yeah, when Yamaguchi mentioned Hinata and Tsukishima and what they witnessed in the nurse’s office yesterday morning, (and Kageyama is in two minds about how _that_ was the catalyst for what happened yesterday afternoon. Because on one hand, he got to do that to Yamaguchi, and on the other, he had to witness his best friend sucking dick.) he couldn’t just let the opportunity go.

He didn’t really expect anything of it, fully prepared to laugh it off or just say it was in the name of experimentation. He almost choked when he got an affirmative, thought he was having a hyper-realistic dream and as soon as he pushed that boundary he’d wake up with a raging hard on and a guilty conscience.

But no, it was reality, which he found out as he’d spread his hands over the freckled boy’s thighs, fingers grasping the soft skin on the outside while his thumbs drifted deliciously, _dangerously_ closer to what was beneath his shorts. He confirmed it was reality when Yamaguchi’s hair tugging produced a sting so good he didn’t want it to stop, when their kiss – so heated Kageyama was sure he’d be burned and was prepared to _take it_ – ended only to be replaced by a trail of kisses down to his neck and – _oh_ , if Kageyama thought it was a dream before he was _certain_ it was real after that.

But, because he was probably a _terrible person_ in his previous life, before he could really explore the depths of the green-haired boy, before he could indulge himself in something he’d only dreamt about in the month beforehand, they had to be crudely interrupted, shocked out of their haze, their little world that consisted of only the two of them.

And by that orange-haired _idiot_ he calls his best friend, who he can hear yelling with his sister downstairs in the kitchen right this second as he continues to lay in bed.

And that’s as good a sign as any that he needs to stop all this reminiscing before Hinata barges into his room to find him in a compromising position for the second time in under 24 hours.

He groans – externally this time – as he gets up from bed, proceeding to get ready for the day. It’s Friday, meaning that Hinata’s come bearing side dishes prepared by his mum that’ll last him and his sister through the weekend when her work schedule is at its most hectic.

Like clockwork, as he’s packing his bag after pulling on his school uniform, he hears Hinata’s elephant footsteps ascending before his door slams open, revealing the short middle blocker.

He rolls his eyes, “You could at least knock.”

Hinata just laughs, waiting as Kageyama rounds up the last of his things. “Would’ve been more helpful yesterday than now,” he smirks and then laughs again as Kageyama flushes and splutters. “We have to _talk_! But that’s for later, we gotta go _now_ otherwise we’ll be late!”

He sprints off, Kageyama following close behind as they make their way to the front door. He doesn’t stop off in the kitchen before leaving, knows Hinata’s also got an extra lunch packed for him too, and just yells out a quick goodbye to his sister before heading out.

As he climbs onto the back wheel of Hinata’s bike, holding onto his best friend’s shoulders as they speed off down the road, he thinks – not for the first time – just how much his life has changed these past few months.

Yamaguchi and _that_ arrangement aside, he’s never really _had_ close friends before – especially not one that he’s told his family situation to and one that has shamelessly turned his life upside down.

Hinata was that one though, finding out that it was just him and his sister at home and that his sister frequently works overtime to make ends meet, and then deciding all on his own that he’d stop off almost every evening with food for the both of them. It even transformed into the two biking to school together on his bike instead of meeting there and racing to club or class.

Hell, Hinata’s even got a _spare key_ that he uses with no hesitation. (Which is most definitely how he was able to come in yesterday undetected until the last moment).

Yamaguchi and Tsukishima are other additions to his life that he didn’t have before. He’d barely had _one_ close friend, now he has _three_. Although, Tsukishima is very much on the fence for that, but they’ve called for an unofficial truce considering the other two are too difficult to say no to.

Well, it could just be that they both have feelings for the other’s best friend, but regardless, they have a truce.

“Stop thinking so much, you’ll fry the little brain you already have!” Hinata laughs from in front of him, only stopping to yelp when Kageyama hits him over the head.

“Dumbass, you’re the _last_ person that can say that to me!” He yells back just as they make it to the school gates where Yamaguchi and Tsukishima are already waiting for them.

Even from this far away he can see that _both_ of them are blushing incredibly hard and then he _remembers_ that he can’t ignore the uncomfortable confrontation that’ll undoubtedly occur after yesterday and _no doubt_ Hinata told Tsukishima what happened.

This is going to be tough.

***

“We agreed to tell them together!” Hinata near shouts in the club room.

It’s just the four of them – like every morning, they’ve come earlier than the rest, being let in by Hinata’s copy of the key. He really needs to know just _what_ he blackmailed their captain and Sugawara with to let him have his own key. Although, considering he somehow produced a copy of Kageyama’s house key, he thinks that _maybe_ Hinata just has a weird affinity for keys.

Tsukishima rolls his eyes, swatting at Hinata’s outstretched hands lightly as they try to grab at the blonde’s waist. “ _Idiot_ , they saw you with my dick down your throat yesterday. There wasn’t much I _could_ hide.”

Hinata splutters, halting his movements as a red flush creeps up his neck. Where did the Hinata that teased Yamaguchi and he yesterday go? To be fair, Tsukishima’s words were crude enough to make all four of them blush at the memory of yesterday morning despite all of them _being there_ , so maybe it was a Tsukishima thing.

Hinata’s eyes narrow slightly, “Well, we could’ve put off the confrontation until we were together if _you_ didn’t feel like teasing Tadashi about what I told you yesterday!”

 _At least I was right about him telling four eyes_ , Kageyama thinks.

Tsukishima’s own eyes narrow, looking down on the ginger, “I wasn’t _teasing_ , I was _asking_. I had to find out from _you_ that my best friend and the Idiot King were _going at it like no tomorrow_ -”

Kageyama coughs as he feels _even more_ heat rise to his cheeks, while Yamaguchi squeaks indignantly. “We were _not_ ‘going at it like no tomorrow’! Hinata, don’t exaggerate things!”

“Exaggerate?” Hinata asks confusedly.

“Make it to be bigger than it is,” Tsukishima quickly supplies, no snide bite behind his explanation. It’s a bit weird, but it’s that little remark that makes Kageyama realise something.

“Holy shit, you guys are going out, aren’t you?” He asks before he can stop himself.

The other three look at him with wildly varying looks. Tsukishima glares at him as if he could make the setter disintegrate on the spot, Hinata looks at him as if to say _did you just figure that out?_ and Yamaguchi just looks at him exasperatedly. That final look makes him think he probably should’ve kept his interruption to himself.

“Of course we’re dating, _Bakageyama_! You _literally_ saw us yesterday morning!” Hinata exclaims and then he stops, looks at the ground for a second before looking up at Tsukishima. “Right, Kei?”

Tsukishima looks between the three of them before sighing and going to sit on the bench next to Hinata, grabbing the shorter boy’s hand and interlocking their fingers. “Yes _King_ , we’re dating, and you _should’ve_ deduced that from what you… saw yesterday,” He mumbles the last bit, probably from surprise as Hinata had moved to sit practically _on top_ of him in the middle of his sentence.

Absolutely gross, Kageyama can’t believe he’s going to have to bear witness to this now that they’re relationship is out in the open.

“Well we didn’t know!” Kageyama defends himself, pointing between him and Yamaguchi, who looks to be imitating a deer caught in headlights. “We thought maybe you guys were just like… experimenting or something!”

“What!” Hinata almost jumps from Tsukishima’s lap, but the large hand that has found its way to his waist prevents him. _Gross_. “We’d never do things like that without being together! Who would do that?”

A sharp silence falls on the four boys as Kageyama and Yamaguchi hold their breath. It’s uncomfortably thick as the two boys try to look anywhere except for the couple sitting just a couple metres away from them. The silence drags on for much longer than anyone should be okay with as Kageyama tries to think of _anything_ to alleviate the tension and knows that Yamaguchi is doing the same.

Once Kageyama is sure that things can’t get any worse, Hinata’s hesitant voice breaks the silence, “Wait…” A couple more seconds of silence makes Kageyama believe he can hear the cogs turning in the ginger’s head. “You two are dating, right?”

And here’s the thing, Kageyama doesn’t mind silence – _prefers_ it actually. He’s not much of a talker, almost always too awkward to carry a conversation for longer than a few minutes unless it involves one of four things: volleyball, that new Korean drama his sister got him hooked on, Hinata or Yamaguchi. So yeah, Kageyama generally likes to just exist in silence unless absolutely necessary.

But _god_ what he’d do to break the silence that follows Hinata’s question. It’s almost _oppressive_ , sucking the air out of Kageyama’s lungs as he finds it hard to breathe because – _what is he meant to say?_

No, they’re not dating. This arrangement that Yamaguchi proposed a couple months back was simply a way to experiment with their preferences, while also getting some experience for when they get the actual opportunity for romance. Kageyama logically _knows_ this, knows that Yamaguchi wants nothing more than unofficial kissing lessons, that yesterday was probably a fluke, an accident caused by Yamaguchi being a bit _too_ curious for his own good after seeing what their best friends were doing behind closed doors.

But Kageyama can’t deny that he _wants_ them to be dating, not after what he experienced yesterday. Because yes, fundamentally yesterday was a sexual experience. There’s no denying that Kageyama _absolutely_ wanted to get into Yamaguchi’s pants yesterday. But yesterday was the culmination of a month of pining and denial, of pretending that the stuttering his heart did, the heat his cheeks felt, the butterflies that rumbled in his stomach whenever he thought of, was near, was talking to, was doing _anything_ with the pinch server, was nothing more than his imagination.

And Kageyama’s only come to terms with this information _this morning_ , so he’d _greatly_ appreciate it if his _sorry excuse_ of a best friend and his newly discovered _asshole_ of a boyfriend could kindly _piss off_ with their inquisitive stares and intruding questions.

“Yamaguchi,” Tsukishima is the one to break the silence this time and honestly, Kageyama could almost kiss the guy for it. _Almost_. One, because it’s Tsukishima and two, because his tone hints at something akin to disappointment. Kageyama notices Yamaguchi’s barely visible flinch from where he stands in front of his locker and wants nothing more than to wrap himself around the green-haired boy and shield him from whatever Tsukishima is about to subject him to. “You’re not dating Kageyama, are you?”

The wording might suggest he hopes this is true, that he isn’t dating their starting setter, but his _tone_ suggests that he hopes it isn’t, which confuses Kageyama endlessly and _can someone just give him a break it’s just about 7am and he just woke up an hour and a half ago_.

Wait, it’s just about 7am, which is when morning practice starts, which means-

“Guys?” A voice sounds from behind Kageyama where he’s standing near the door. Yamaguchi jumps visibly, while Hinata squeaks and rushes to get off Tsukishima’s lap and across the room to stand next to Kageyama. Sawamura stands at the doorway, Sugawara and Azumane standing behind him, all three looking at the four first years curiously.

The door was still being pushed open when Hinata jumped off of Tsukishima’s lap, meaning they didn’t see it, but they did catch the boy sprinting across the room to get to Kageyama’s side. That in itself could be seen as a bit weird, but the fact that it was almost time for practice and all four were not in the gym already is probably even weirder for the upperclassman, who had gotten used to seeing the four of them already running through drills when they came in over the last couple months.

“What are you guys still doing here?” It’s Sugawara who speaks up now, walking into the room with the other two as they prepare to change for practice. When met with awkward silence, he turns around to look at the four, three of who are looking pointedly on the ground. Finally, his gaze looks with Tsukishima, raising an eyebrow as he speaks, “Tsukishima?”

“We were just discussing some homework that the idiot duo didn’t understand and lost track of time,” the blonde smoothly lies as he gets up from his seat and heads to the door, stopping right next to Hinata. Before yesterday morning, Kageyama wouldn’t have noticed anything strange about that. _Now however_ , he thinks.

“Hey! We were _not-_ “ Hinata cries indignantly.

“Oh?” Tsukishima interrupts sharply, a deadly glint in his eye as he stares down his boyfriend. “Then, pray tell _shrimp_ , care to explain _what_ we were discussing?” If Kageyama thought that being the bean pole’s boyfriend granted one immunity from the general harshness that is Tsukishima Kei, he’s proven wrong in that very moment as he feels a blizzard pass through the taller boy’s golden eyes and shoot Hinata right through the heart.

The ginger blushes brightly, mouth opening and closing before finally sputtering out, “Uh- right! _Right!_ We were- we were, uh, talking about some homework! Ha! Yep!” He’s blabbering now and Kageyama can barely suppress the urge to roll his eyes but can’t stop the reflex that cause him to slap him across the back of his head. “Ow! _Bakageyama_ , can you at least _try_ to learn to be less violent!”

Kageyama snorts, intent on forgetting the entire conversation they just had, intent on never _finishing_ it either. “Definitely not,” he says as he walks past the two out of the room and to the gym.

And if he stops and waits for Yamaguchi to get to him to continue his trek with the freckled boy, letting Hinata and Tsukishima pass him by with twin knowing looks in their eyes, then that’s something that only the four of them need to know.

***

Kageyama has made a resolution. Steeled by a seemingly never-ending war going on in his mind, he’s decided that he’s going to seek out his _stupid_ best friend and his _stupider_ boyfriend and ask them for help on his situation.

He just had to sit through a whole practice, watching the two interaction and he’s genuinely shocked that neither him nor Yamaguchi had realised just what was going on with the two. Tsukishima wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, and Hinata wasn’t all drear and gloom, but both were _disgustingly_ considerate for the other.

Tsukishima never let slip something that could potentially upset the boy, any jokes made were made to get a laugh out of the smaller boy, _not_ to laugh at him. He was always there to help Hinata with something, whether it was a tip on his blocking technique (non-condescendingly), having his water bottle ready during a quick break (under the guise that he was already there getting a drink), or quietly complimenting him on his spike (noticeable only by the blush and impossibly wide smile that lights up his whole face when Tsukishima speaks too softly for anyone else to hear).

Hinata’s much the same, while still his unimaginably bright self, running around the gym laughing with Tanaka and Nishinoya, chatting away happily to Yachi, practicing spikes with Sugawara, Hinata dims himself in the presence of Tsukishima. He doesn’t deflate, doesn’t allow his sunny-self dampen, but instead changes the way he glows. Hinata’s brilliantly shining in a group, all flashing lights and blazing intensity, but next to Tsukishima he’s a twinkling star, a warm fire wrapping only the blonde in his heat. Kageyama would think he’s making a conscious effort to not overwhelm the taller boy, but halfway through practice, when he notices just how brightly Hinata shines under the attention of Tsukishima, notices how he still remains himself, but expresses it differently for his boyfriend, he realises that Hinata just genuinely reacts so privately, so _warmly_ for Tsukishima only – that only he could bring out this softer side of the ginger, that this side was reserved for him and him only.

Kageyama had to look away at that point, realising that Hinata’s light was still as scintillating in this form, if not more so.

It was also at the point that Kageyama decided that if anyone was going to know how to handle his newly accepted feelings for their fellow first year, it would begrudgingly be those two, and he was going to ask them for help.

That’s how he finds himself the last one in the club room, waiting for the two as it was their turn to clean the gym after practice. Except the two were taking an awful long time, considering class was due to start in 15 minutes.

Kageyama sighs, remembering the absolute mess the second years left after Nishinoya and Tanaka waged war on no one in particular and threw all the volleyballs from the basket around the gym, and decides to go down to help them. Maybe his kindness will incline them a little more to give him advice.

But when he enters the gym it’s completely clean and, most notably, empty.

He hears some noise and then a loud _bang!_ from the equipment room and walks over, expecting to see that they’ve dropped the nets or made a big mess inside.

He does _not_ expect to see Hinata bent over some mats stacked waist high, Tsukishima behind him, their pants slightly pulled down and Tsukishima _thrusting into his best friend_.

“ _Jesus Christ!_ ” He yells, covering his eyes and turning away. He hears Hinata scream and a lot of shuffling. “Again?! Seriously?! Can’t you just do that at _home_ or something, holy _shit_.”

Kageyama was already having trouble accepting that he’d seen his one of his friends giving the other a blow job yesterday, he really doesn’t know how he’s supposed to come to terms with seeing that same friend being _rammed_ from behind by the other.

Kageyama legitimately considers researching ways to induce amnesia for a second.

He closes the equipment room door behind him and sprints from the gym, but stops in the outside corridor, remembering that he still desperately needs help with his Yamaguchi situation. It’s absolutely not the best time for this conversation, but he also knows himself well enough to know that if he doesn’t do this now he won’t do it ever.

It takes another couple minutes for the two to come out, grossly dishevelled and breathing heavy. Hinata is refusing to look him in the eye, his face so red Kageyama’s worried he might pass out, while Tsukishima just glares at him with the force of a million suns, arms crossed over his chest. But Kageyama can still see how red his ears are, so _jokes on him_.

“Just _what_ did you need so badly that you had to come back to the gym, King?” Tsukishima asks coldly, arms unfolding as Hinata tucks his face into his side in embarrassment, instead letting one of his hands find their way to the ginger hair and stroking softly.

Kageyama doesn’t know why he’s been subjected to so many gross things this morning. He must’ve been a serial killer in this last life or something.

“Uh- look okay, I’m sorry that I interrupted… whatever _that_ was-” He begins, only to be cut off by Tsukishima.

“Don’t mention that again, not now and not ever to anybody.” His voice is dangerously low, a threat that seems too real hidden behind his words. “If you want help with Yamaguchi, you’ll be sure to forget it even happened.”

Kageyama chokes, blushing brightly. “W-what? What makes you think-” he’s cut off _yet again_ , this time by the disbelieving stare Tsukishima gives him and the questioning one Hinata shows when he takes his face away from his boyfriend’s torso. “Okay, I need your help,” he sighs, resigned to just getting this over with rather than pretending. That wouldn’t really help his cause and it’d just prolong this already _incredibly_ uncomfortable conversation.

Tsukishima snorts, while Hinata moves further away and starts to smile slightly at the realisation of what’s happening. “Thought so,” the blonde says. “Don’t know what you need help with, though. Just tell him your feelings.”

Kageyama makes a loud noise of protest, “ _Huh?_ I know we didn’t finish our conversation in the locker room before, but you _must’ve_ figured out that we’re just like… kissing friends!” He stops because that’s a not quite right explanation, kissing friends don’t want to give each other hand jobs. “Or something like that,” he mumbles.

“We know that Yama-Yama,” Hinata says softly, smiling at his best friend who has been reduced to a blushing mess. “We saw the way you looked at him this morning. And I’ve seen the way you’ve looked at him for a little while, I’m your best friend.” He. walks closer to the setter, slowly, as if approaching a wild animal. Finally, he stands in front of Kageyama and stares up at him with open and honest eyes. Kageyama, despite the blush he can feel spread across his entire face, holds his gaze, trying to convey with as little words as possible how hopeless he feels about this.

“And,” Hinata continues, smiling gently. “Kei is Tadashi’s best friend. And he’s noticed the way ‘Dashi looks at _you_ in return.”

This causes Kageyama to freeze, shocked by the revelation and definitely _not_ believing it. If he’s interrupting the meaning of Hinata’s words correctly, his best friend is insinuating that Yamaguchi has _feelings_ for him – the same _feelings_ that he holds for the green-haired boy.

And that’s just _not possible_. Yamaguchi only wanted to experiment, to get experience, so that when he _actually_ finds someone he likes he won’t be awkward and cautious like he is with Kageyama. (Not that that’s anything bad. In fact, Kageyama basks in every interaction he gets with pinch server, feels blessed to be involved in so many of his firsts, feels divine in watching him grow more and more confident in himself in so many aspects that no one else is privy to). But Yamaguchi doesn’t think – can’t _possibly_ think – that that person is _Kageyama_ of all people. _Kageyama_ , the guy who got left on the court by his middle school team for being such a tyrant. _Kageyama_ , the boy who’s still terribly emotionally constipated and can’t express himself to save his life. _Kageyama_ , the boy who, until this year, didn’t even have a number in his phone that wasn’t meant to be used unless for emergencies.

Yamaguchi, one of the most _lovely_ , _interesting_ , _hilarious_ , _intelligent_ people he’s ever met, just _can’t_ have feelings for someone who is his _complete opposite_.

“Steam’s rising from your ears, King, you might want to stop thinking before you burn yourself out.” Tsukishima interrupts his internal lament, which- _rude_. Can’t he let a guy weep for his great first love that has ended before it even began in peace? The _nerve_ of this four eyes. Tsukishima rolls his eyes at the glare he gets from Kageyama, while Hinata just laughs. “Shōyō’s right. As annoying as it is, Yams looks at you the same way you look at him. And we both know that he doesn’t tend to actually say what he’s thinking.”

And- that’s actually very true. It was just yesterday he was trying to continue gym class when he could’ve had a possible concussion and been in a decent amount of pain from being hit. But could that thinking _really_ apply to Kageyama as well?

“ _God_ , stop thinking so hard. You don’t have to have some elaborate plan or anything. Just tell him how you feel.” Tsukishima sighs, rubbing the skin between his eyebrows as Hinata walks back to him and rubs his arm in comfort.

Hinata turns back to Kageyama and smiles at him, “Just trust us. You came to us for a reason right? We wouldn’t tell you to do something if we thought it’d hurt you – if it’d hurt _either_ of you.”

Kageyama stand in stunned silence. That’s actually very true, too. The him from April wouldn’t have trusted anything the couple was saying, the sting of the betrayal of his middle school team too fresh to allow him anything remotely resembling trust in someone. But it’s almost October now and even though he doesn’t think too often about how his friends feel about him, he knows for a fact that they wouldn’t ever intentionally try to hurt each other. Would do everything possible to build each other up.

He takes a deep breath and has his second resolution in as many hours, looking the couple dead in the eye as they look back at him expectantly.

“I’m going to tell Yamaguchi my feelings.”

***

Yamaguchi likes Kageyama.

Yesterday’s events cemented that fact in him so deeply that he knew there was no way he’d be able to uproot it anytime soon. It was foolish of him to even think that those feelings he had before yesterday wouldn’t ever grow into something even greater, knows now that it was only a matter of time before he accepted that he likes the setter _a lot_.

Yesterday just helped as an incredibly fast catalyst.

But he also knows that Kageyama is really only in this for the experimenting, really only agreed to the arrangement so he could get some experience for the future – a future that, Yamaguchi presumes, won’t include him.

And after witnessing the heart-warming sight that was his two best friends being a blissfully happy couple this morning, he’s decided that they’ll be the perfect duo to help him make sense of his newfound revelation.

It’s lunchtime now, he was meant to be helping a teacher all lunch with some filing as he’s on duty today, but an unexpected meeting has called her away, setting him free. He knows that Kageyama is busy this lunch for the same reason and that his teacher hasn’t been called into this meeting, meaning it’ll just be him, Tsukishima and Hinata this lunchtime.

If this _isn’t_ a sign from the universe that those two will help him decide what to do, he doesn’t know what _is_.

He walks back to his classroom at a fast pace, but when he opens the door he notices the distinct absence of a particular blonde and ginger. He frowns and turns to check Hinata’s classroom, only to see that they’re not there either. He asks one of his classmates if she’s seen either of them but gets a shake of the head in response.

He decides to then check the vending machines outside, maybe they decided to get a drink. However, that turns out to be a bust, too. On the way back he spots Ennoshita and Narita walking out of one of the buildings.

“Ennoshita-Senpai! Narita-Senpai!” He calls out, running up to them as they turn to look at him with small smiles on their faces.

“Hey Yamaguchi, what’s up?” Ennoshita asks.

“Uh- Have you guys happened to see Tsukki or Hinata anywhere?” He asks hopefully. At Ennoshita’s head shake and rueful _no, sorry_ he’s almost given up hope. But then Narita looks to be thinking about something.

“Actually yeah,” he says finally, and Yamaguchi almost breathes a sigh of relief. “I’m pretty sure I saw them head up to the roof.”

This confuses Yamaguchi, “the roof? But that’s off limits to students, isn’t it?”

Ennoshita snorts and looks at Yamaguchi with humour in his eyes, “considering Hinata has the keys to the gym, club room, _and_ the nurse’s office, do you really think it’s a stretch for him to have the roof key, too?”

Okay, that’s news to him. And that also answers how the two were so confident in being in the nurse’s office yesterday. Instead of questioning out loud just _how_ Hinata is in possession of so many important keys, he bows and says a quick thanks to them both before running up to the roof access near the nurse’s office.

He doesn’t know how he’ll word his grievances to the two, whether they’ll tell him something he wants to hear or something he doesn’t. The only thing he knows for sure is that they won’t laugh at him, at least.

He’s thinking all this as he pushes the roof door open, only to scream and cover his eyes because across the roof is Hinata swimming in Tsukishima’s oversized jacket while sitting in the aforementioned boy’s lap, his back against the blonde’s chest, _without pants on_. Even worse, he could very clearly see how Tsukishima was gripping the boy hips, letting the boy _bounce on his dick_ , and _Jesus Christ_ he just saw his best friends having _sex_ on the _school roof_.

“ _Fuck! Sorry!_ ” He screams, slamming the door closed behind him, leaning against it while he gains his breath. He sinks to the ground and shoves the heel of his palms in his eyes, trying to _scrub_ to rid the image from his memory, but the sight is already burnt into his retinas, just like how Hinata’s high pitched moans and Tsukishima’s low groans were still ringing in his ears.

He suddenly _really_ hates his best friends because, _seriously_ , how could they do this again and get caught _again_. They really need to understand the concept of _time and place_ because he’s known about their relationship for a day and he’s already been subjected to such horrors twice. He really doesn’t know how he’s going to survive.

His inner monologue is interrupted by the door opening behind him, causing him to fall back with a little _oomph!_ He glares up at Tsukishima, who stands above him looking thoroughly pissed off.

“What the _fuck_ is with you two and interrupting us all the time,” he grumbles, walking back to wear Hinata is sitting (with pants on, _thank God_ , but still with Tsukishima’s jacket wrapped around himself). Even from here, Yamaguchi can see just how _red_ the boy is and Yamaguchi wonders how he could act so calm and collected yesterday when he looks just one second away from turning into a puddle.

Then again, a split second of blow job viewing is infinitely different to witnessing one of your friends _bounce_ on your other friend’s dick.

Yamaguchi gets up and stomps over to the two of them. “Don’t put this on me! What is _with_ you two and having all these rendezvous around school? Don’t you have a house? A bedroom, perhaps? Can’t you just do it like normal people?” He berates them, and he only feels a little guilty when Hinata looks ready to cry because Tsukishima is starting to look a little guilty and that gives him too much satisfaction.

After a few seconds of terse silence he nods, “Good. At least you understand.” He then sits down across from the two and crosses his arms of his puffed-out chest. “Now, I am a little sorry for interrupting your… alone time. But I need help,” he says, effectively dropping the conversation, which the two look utterly grateful for. They turn to look at each other, a similar look passing through their eyes before they look at Yamaguchi in a way that silently says _go on_. “It’s about Kageyama.”

Suddenly, Hinata breaks out into his signature megawatt smile. “I knew it! I knew it! Kei, didn’t I say it!” He giggles, jumping onto his knees and wrapping both his arms around Tsukishima’s left arm tightly. The blonde grumbles but doesn’t look too unhappy at the way the ginger clings to him.

Yamaguchi splutters at that, “you knew _what_?” He asks.

Hinata turns to look at him with a sly smile, but it’s Tsukishima who answers. “That you’d come to us to ask for help about how to deal with your feelings for Kageyama.”

“Tsukki!” Yamaguchi shouts without thinking. He doesn’t know what else to say because they’re both so _spot on_ it’s terrifying.

“Are you going to tell me I’m wrong?” Tsukishima returns, raising an eyebrow. When he’s only met with Yamaguchi stuttering and blushing, he smirks. “That’s what I thought.”

Yamaguchi stutters for a few more seconds before closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath. “Okay yes, I like Kageyama. And I have no idea what to do about it.”

“Easy!” Hinata interjects, looking so bright and happy. “You tell him.”

He _what_?!

“I _what_?!” He screeches. “Hinata, it is _not_ the time for jokes!”

“Does it look like he’s joking?” Tsukishima asks.

“Yeah, does it look like I’m joking?” Hinata parrots, head tilted, and face scrunched in confusion. And _no_ , it doesn’t _at all_ , and that’s what confuses Yamaguchi the most. Because if he’s not joking that means he thinks it’s a good idea and _why on earth_ would he think that’s a good idea. At Yamaguchi’s silence, Hinata rolls his eyes, “I can’t believe this will be the second time I’ve said this today, but we wouldn’t tell you to do something if we thought it’d hurt you. _Especially_ Kei, he’s your best friend Tadashi, he’d probably jump in front of bus before letting you get hurt!”

“Please don’t volunteer my body to a bus accident without my consent,” Tsukishima says plainly, looking at his boyfriend with the ghost of a smile on his lips. That expression alone is enough to make Yamaguchi consider actually just telling Kageyama how he feels. But then Tsukishima looks at him with such seriousness that his breath hitches, “But Shō’s right. I wouldn’t ever let you walk into something that could potentially hurt, so if _I_ think this is a good idea – it probably is Yams.”

And that’s really it. Because Yamaguchi knows he’d do anything for Tsukishima, knows his best friend like the back of his hand, knows how to handle him and knows what is best for him. And just like Yamaguchi knows all this about him, Tsukishima does too. Tsukishima knows all of Yamaguchi’s ins and outs, knows all of his ticks and his guilty pleasures, and definitely knows what’s best for him.

He takes a deep breath and makes up his mind there and then, looking the couple dead in the eye as they look back at him expectantly.

“I’m going to tell Kageyama my feelings.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is over 6000 words of just mutual pining lol. I hope it was entertaining and that Kageyama's perspective wasn't too terrible!
> 
> There was meant to be an in depth TsukiHina scene, but the word count was so high I decided I'd see if I can rework it into the next chapter (they actually do have a side story in this, not just sex scenes).


	3. Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's pretty weird to me that all of my chapters are unintentionally ~6000 words long, but hey maybe that's my magic number! 
> 
> Also it's tagged, but this work is unbeta'd and I also almost never read through what I've written before posting because I usually write it in one sitting and then just post it. This time I wrote it on my phone or laptop just whenever I had 20-30 minutes to spare so I was constantly re-reading to remember where I'd left off, so this might be slightly better edited than the first two chapters. That being said, there is absolutely guaranteed to still be mistakes, sorry about that!

Hinata and Tsukishima have been dating officially since July.

 _Officially_ because they’ve been dating _unofficially_ since May and no matter how many times Tsukishima will deny it, he was _incredibly_ nervous to ask Hinata to be his boyfriend and so just kept putting it off.

Hinata only knows this because he told him when high on pain relieving drugs after getting his wisdom teeth out last month. Hinata won’t ever let him live it down.

They started accidentally, after Hinata made a joke about Tsukishima having feelings for him after one too many jabs were made at the shorter boy. When all he received in response was bright blushing and stuttering he quickly realised that – _yes_ , Tsukishima did indeed have feelings for him.

On that day Hinata realised two things about himself: one, he was felt pretty neutral towards the blonde, and two, he was maybe a bit _too_ spontaneous for anyone’s liking.

So, like any logical person who doesn’t hold any romantic feelings for another person but talks faster than they can think, he asked Tsukishima on a date.

It went pretty horribly at first. Hinata suggested going to an amusement park and Tsukishima was too shocked to say no, neither realising until they actually arrived that the two of them, large and loud crowds and a hot May day were absolutely _not_ a good mix when trying to have a date. It almost completely failed when Tsukishima snapped at Hinata, huffing and walking off.

But Hinata has always been a determined boy (and he could also admit that having _the_ Tsukishima go to an amusement park was not his brightest idea), and so followed the blonde out of the park to apologise.

Hinata thinks his obsession with the tall middle blocker began when he found him just outside the souvenir shop, holding a candy apple and a little trinket as a token of apology, stuttering out an _I’m sorry_ and rubbing the back of his neck shyly. Hinata had just accepted the gifts, understanding the sincerity behind his actions.

And if his obsession with his boyfriend didn’t start at that moment, then it _definitely_ started when Tsukishima took him back into town and into a sporting recreational centre, where they played every sport available to them before getting some ramen for dinner. It ended with a soft peck on the lips, a silent promise for the future.

They grew into each other quickly and naturally. Their dynamic didn’t really change around others, too used to their interactions to really change much, but there were some slight differences. Tsukishima’s sharp tongue was never directed at Hinata anymore – it was only ever directed at the ginger to hide his growing feelings for him in the first place, requited feelings quelled his want to insult the boy.

When Hinata pointed out that that was very elementary-schoolboy-with-a-crush logic, he got a quick bout of tickling and denial of kisses for the day.

Tsukishima also made a conscious effort to show affection to the shorter in any way he could. In private this was easy, physical affection melded with verbal affection easily without thinking, letting Hinata know just _how much_ the taller appreciated him. In public it was different, and it took Hinata a little while to see it, but when he did he realised just _how often_ the blonde showed his appreciation. It was in the little things Tsukishima did – helping him stretch just a little bit extra, giving him insightful tips on blocking, making in depth and detailed study guides, bringing him a second piece of whatever sweet he brought to snack on that day.

Tsukishima showed his affection in many different ways, and by this point Hinata was basically an expert in reading the intention’s behind his boyfriend’s actions.

Tsukishima didn’t believe him until Hinata told him that _no, he couldn’t break one of Tanaka-senpai’s fingers just because he pointed at him while making a joke_. When Tsukishima asked _why on earth_ he thought he wanted to do that, Hinata had just pointed out that he had switched the grip of his water bottle from his left hand to his right, while he rolled his left ankle for a little too long.

Tsukishima was sufficiently terrified for the better part of a day by how observant his boyfriend truly is.

Hinata returns the affections and appreciation given to him in kind. While he really didn’t have feelings for Tsukishima before their first date, it’s almost embarrassing just how _infatuated_ with the other he became. His only saving grace is that Tsukishima is equally as infatuated with him.

Now, Hinata will show his boyfriend just how much he cares in any way possible. Like Tsukishima, his physical and verbal affections come so easily, truth laced in every word spoken, in every touch made. The number of lunchboxes he makes in the morning has increased from four to five. It had only increased to four in May when he included Kageyama on his roster. With how close he is with Yamaguchi now; it might even expand to six.

But Tsukishima’s boxes are always a little different from the rest, a little more care put into them. It wasn’t something Tsukishima noticed at first, but when he noticed that Kageyama’s and Hinata’s box looked the same, while his included a variety of his own favourite’s, it clicked.

The biggest thing truly was how well Hinata is able to read Tsukishima’s moods. Hinata wears his heart on his sleeve, face too emotive to hide any feelings, and Tsukishima is quick to ease his boyfriend of any worries, and it effective almost every single time. But Tsukishima’s insanely guarded, face too flat and voice to blank for anyone to pick on how he’s feeling – even Yamaguchi doesn’t see it sometimes.

But Hinata does, and he does every single time. Hinata’s bright, lighting up a room with just his smile and relaxing everyone with just his laugh, it’s a big reason for why Tsukishima’s feelings for him began. But Tsukishima is proud to know that his boyfriend won’t ever try around him, won’t ever force anything he’s not when they enter their own little bubble. He’s still his sunny self, but without his want to people please, his heat is solely directed at Tsukishima, no bright burning, just a warm glow – one that Tsukishima unabashedly basks in. It’s a state he gets in only around Tsukishima, and the fact that the blonde is the only one who can be this sense of security, this pillar of support, for the ginger in turn causes all of Tsukishima’s worries to fade, to dissipate into nothing.

Hinata can read Tsukishima like a book and understands that allowing himself to be read in the exact same manor is what Tsukishima appreciates most.

So they fell into everything quite quickly, so aware and considerate of each other, that their relationship progressed much quicker than either of them expected it to.

May began with kisses, first soft and brushing, then sweet and lingering, and finally firm and passionate. It ended with tantalizing touches, with moans and gasps as they progressed to exploring each other’s bodies and experimental hand jobs.

In June they gave each other blow jobs for the first time. It was a slightly awkward but incredibly satisfying experience, one that became an often occurrence after their first go. July went about the same before Hinata requested going further again in August. Tsukishima was sceptical at first, but when Hinata first fingered himself in front of the blonde, he threw caution out the window and moved to join.

They had sex for the first time in late August, after a particularly good date that included blow jobs in the cinema. Tsukishima had the house to himself, his parents in Tokyo and his brother at university, and they decided that Hinata would sleep over.

They were addicted before they were even finished.

Tsukishima in May would’ve _never dared_ to call himself a sexually exploring person, would’ve been happy to just experience the basics. Hinata in May hadn’t even really thought about sex past the few times he’d watched porn. But after that day, they would take any chance they could get to have their hands on each other. They wouldn’t label themselves exhibitionists per say – didn’t even know what that was until they found the word online while researching one day – but being teenage boys living at home and spending a majority of their time outside of the house, more often than not their encounters would happen somewhere semi-public.

That’s how they’d been caught by Yamaguchi and Kageyama twice.

And that’s how they’d been caught by the third years of their volleyball club just thirty seconds ago.

The two sit on the ground of the club room, Tsukishima with his glasses off and hair dishevelled, his shirt unbuttoned and pushed off his shoulders, while Hinata sits on his lap, top still on but pants undone and pushed under his bum. It’s just gone into lunch, the two had skipped their previous lesson to go hook up.

What they didn’t expect was for Sawamura, Sugawara and Azumane to decide to have a meeting for the upcoming tournament – and for them to be having a meeting _this_ lunchtime in _their_ club room. So they hadn’t cared to double check if they’d locked the door (really, a dumb idea considering that unlocked doors is how they’ve been caught on three separate occasions now) and, thus, weren’t aware of the third years coming into the room until the door swung open and they both heard a collective gasp from the doorway.

Azumane blushes and looks away quickly, stepping out of sight slightly. Sawamura has a mixed look of shock and anger on his face, but he’s entirely too socially awkward and inept to really address what he’s been forced to witness right this second. Sugawara looks devious, shock melting rapidly into a mischievous smirk as he looks between the two first years.

Hinata and Tsukishima are so shocked they haven’t even breathed for the past thirty seconds.

Sugawara finally breaks, walking casually into the room and sitting on a bunch on the opposite side of the room. This jolts the couple into action, Tsukishima pulling his shirt back on and Hinata yanking his pants over his bum and redoing them. They pull apart as they stare at the ground, not wanting to look at anyone in that moment.

Being caught by your best friends is one thing, being caught by your _upperclassman_ who think you _hate each other_ is another.

“So,” Sugawara starts as Sawamura shakes himself out of his stupor, pulling their long-haired ace into the room, who’s still blushing and refusing to look anywhere but the ceiling. “You two are… dating?” Sugawara asks carefully, but everyone can tell just how hard he is trying to hold back his laughter.

Tanaka and Nishinoya may be the troublemakers of the club, but Tsukishima knows just how much Sugawara instigates everything.

“Yes, we are,” he says coolly. Hinata just squeaks in response, but does move himself behind Tsukishima, grabbing his sleeve and leaning forward onto his shoulder blade to peer over at the other.

Sugawara visibly softens at this, teasing smirk morphing into an encouraging smile. “We won’t say anything, if that’s what you’re worried about. And we accept your relationship, if _that’s_ what you’re worried about.” He pauses for a second, slyness returning to his smile. “ _But_ ,” he drags out. “It _is_ a little surprising. Just yesterday Hinata was intentionally aiming all his spikes at you after he yelled at you.”

Tsukishima coughs, not really wanting to explain just _what_ he said to make his boyfriend so flighty. Hinata, for all that they share the same wavelength, does not share this sentiment.

“Oh! He joked about bending me over the gym stage and-”

“Shō!” Tsukishima cuts him off, ears feeling entirely too hot with how much heat has risen to his face. Hinata grunts out a _what_ before realising with an _oh_ just what he’s said. In front of them, Azumane blushes harder (as if that was possible) and Sawamura slaps a hand over his face, embarrassment long gone and exasperation setting in. Sugawara has stopped hiding his amusement and is now bent in half, laughing loudly at the confession.

Once all the third years have calmed down, Sawamura speaks up, “We don’t care what you guys get up to in your free time, just – _please_ – do _not_ do it on school property or where people can catch you.” He opens his mouth to say more before pausing and thinking. “Wait,” he says slowly before looking at Hinata with accusing eyes. “Is this the reason you wanted the club room key?”

Sugawara finally begins to look a little apprehensive, probably at the thought that his underclassmen having been using their club room as a sex room for God knows how long.

When Hinata doesn’t answer, he adds a, “Well? Is Daichi right?” and looks between the two first years.

Hinata chuckles innocently, but it’s enough of an answer for everyone in the room. The three third years groan, immediately standing up and away from all the furniture in the room. Hinata himself stands up and pulls Tsukishima with him.

“You _know_ you guys don’t get to ask any questions with our agreement! It’s not _my_ fault you never asked why I wanted it when I asked for it!” He says brightly as he tugs his boyfriend to the door. “Don’t worry, we make sure that everything is super-duper clean and sanitized when we’re done!”

“Hinata!” A chorused response comes.

Hinata laughs again, too bright for the situation. “I’m joking, I’m joking! We usually use the roof, but Tadashi caught us there last week.” Sugawara _does_ laugh at that again, but Sawamura and Azumane just groan in frustration.

As they make to leave, Tsukishima tugs on Hinata’s hand to stop and turns to face his upperclassmen. He stands silently for a few seconds, watching them as they watch him back. Finally he bows, just slightly, and says, “thank you for accepting us. I’m sorry you had to discover us this way.” And then walks out, letting his hand slip from Hinata’s.

He hears Hinata echo his sentiment, voice soft and serious in contrast to his earlier joking, adding something about wanting to hug them all as a thank you, but knowing they probably wouldn’t like it after what they just saw.

They stand in silence when they close the door behind them, but when Hinata opens his mouth Tsukishima reaches up to grip his hair lightly.

“Don’t you dare say it,” he says in warning, letting go of his hair to walk down the covered corridor. “Let’s just go get lunch, Yams said Kageyama wants to see the roof and can’t find the key in your bag.”

Hinata sighs softly, a small smile on his face as he jogs to catch up with his boyfriend, “of course he wouldn’t! Why would I ever leave my key collection somewhere I’m not?”

***

“I just don’t understand how we _never_ noticed that you two were going out,” Yamaguchi says for the _fifth time_ that lunch period.

“Well, it’s not like we act any different to how we did at the start of the school year,” Hinata says with a shrug, reaching into the lunchbox in his lap to pick up a sausage.

Kageyama snorts into his drink, “you’re really saying that? While you’re like _that_?”

They’re currently sitting on the roof for lunch, Kageyama appeased by his viewing of the restricted place and deciding that he didn’t want to make the effort of going back down to eat lunch. The fact that all of their lunches were with him and Kageyama when Hinata and Tsukishima had found them in front of the locked door makes him think they planned to eat here all along.

Now they’re sitting in circle, but Kageyama is specifically referencing to Hinata and Tsukishima’s position. Hinata looks down at himself seated in his boyfriend’s lap, long arms wrapped loosely around his waist as he leans back onto the blonde’s chest. He holds his own lunchbox in his hand, while Tsukishima’s is in his lap, allowing him to alternate between feeding himself and feeding his boyfriend.

“I don’t understand,” Hinata says, while reaching back to feed Tsukishima the sausage.

Yeah, _King_ ,” Tsukishima sneers, arms tightening around Hinata’s waist as he smirks at the setter. “What’s wrong with how we’re sitting?”

“Tsukki, I’m literally the one that pointed it out, why are you egging on Kageyama?” Yamaguchi questions, an eyebrow raised as he digs into his store-bought lunch. Hinata had seen it and immediately declared he would be making a lunchbox for him from now on, and after seeing the contents of the other three lunchboxes, he was privately excited.

Tsukishima narrows his eyes at Yamaguchi, “shut up, Yamaguchi.”

Yamaguchi just snorts in response, “not until I figure out how you hid this from us for almost _five months_!”

Tsukishima just rolls his eyes, while Hinata giggles. “To be fair, we’re probably only like this because it’s you two and we trust you. I couldn’t imagine doing this in front of, say… the third years.” He thinks for a moment before adding, “Even after what they just caught us doing.”

Yamaguchi spits out his food, while Kageyama chokes on his milk, coughing as Yamaguchi whacks him on the back.

Tsukishima groans and buries his face in Hinata’s hair, “Shō, you _really_ didn’t have to mention that. Like, _at all_.”

Hinata just laughs and eats a bit of egg from his lunchbox, “Well, they would’ve found out anyway.”

Yamaguchi has lost the two as Hinata continues to feed his boyfriend, too engrossed in the own object of his affections to take notice. He’s stopped smacking the boy’s back and is instead rubbing it gently, letting the raven-haired boy get his breathing back to normal. Yamaguchi’s hand burns from where it’s indirectly touching Kageyama and he’s reminded of how he _hasn’t_ confessed his feelings to the other yet, despite all his noble intentions and declarations to the lovesick couple sitting across from them.

He had chances, sure, Hinata and Tsukishima had purposely left them alone to give him _plenty_ of opportunities to confess. We had tried Friday afternoon first, after practice. They walked home – just the two of them – but before Yamaguchi could get anything out, Kageyama said his sister was waiting for him for dinner and all but ran away.

This had only made Yamaguchi incredibly paranoid because what if Kageyama _knew_ what Yamaguchi had intended to do and dashed off before he could hear it? Had Hinata and Tsukishima been _wrong_ about this not hurting him?

So every time the two middle blockers had left them alone, which was a lot, he would make an excuse whenever Kageyama would seem to be about to bring up Yamaguchi’s ill-found feelings. They’re still talking like normal, still hanging out like normal, but Yamaguchi’s let’s these times cut short whenever he can feel a serious shift in atmosphere.

He’s constantly torn between wanting to spend more time with Kageyama and not wanting to face his impending rejection, leaving him emotionally drained a full week later.

To make matters more complicated, today is Thursday, and the two haven’t discussed whether Yamaguchi is coming over today.

He’s so lost in thought he doesn’t realise that he’s absentmindedly stroking Kageyama’s back until he hears the setter cough particularly loudly. He looks up from the ground at where his hand is still resting on his back before looking up at Kageyama, who’s blushing intensely and looking directly at Yamaguchi.

Yamaguchi retracts his hand as if he’d been burned. “I’m so sorry! I-”

“No, I’m sorry!” Kageyama interrupts. “You probably-“

“No, no, _I’m_ sorry! That must’ve been really uncomfortable, especially after-”

“No! It’s not you, it’s me! Look-”

“It’s okay! You don’t have to-”

“ _Oh my god_ ,” A low voice interrupts both of them, now just rambling on top of each other. They snap their heads to look at Tsukishima, who holds a giggling Hinata firmly in his lap. “Can you both shut up? This is getting really embarrassing, and that’s coming from the guy with a shrimp sitting in his lap.”

“ _Hey!_ ” Hinata cries.

Yamaguchi and Kageyama just gape like fish, mouths opening and closing in an attempt to find words, while looking at each other and then the couple. Yamaguchi is personally horrified after realising he almost _confessed his feelings_ in front of the other two. He’s silently thankful for Tsukishima’s interruption.

“You know,” Hinata starts, drawing all attention back to him. “I don’t understand _why_ you guys are both so awkward with each other. I mean, after last week shouldn’t you guys have already figured-”

“Nope,” Tsukishima says over him, bringing a hand to cover his mouth and physically cut him off. “We are _not_ doing this; this is _not_ our place.” He stands, bringing Hinata up with him, collecting the lunchboxes on the way up.

“Why not?!” Hinata exclaims, pouting up at the blonde before looking over at Yamaguchi and Kageyama still frozen and blushing. “I mean, if we _just_ \- _Ah!_ ” He’s stopped as Tsukishima physically picks Hinata up and throws him over his shoulder. “Let me go, Kei!”

“Absolutely not,” Tsukishima replies, walking to the roof door. Yamaguchi and Kageyama just silently watch them. “We are _not_ involving ourselves any more than we already have.”

Hinata stops thrashing at this, lying limply over the taller boy’s shoulder for a few seconds before lifting himself up and peering of the other shoulder, “Okay fine. So what we doing?”

Tsukishima stops walking at that and turns to look at the two still seated with an intensely scrutinising eye, “ _You two_ need to _talk_ , so we’re going to give you some _privacy_.”

Hinata hums and turns around over the shoulder to look at the three, “right, so _where_ are we going exactly?”

Tsukishima smirks at the two before turning around and heading back towards the door, “We’re going to finish what our upperclassmen interrupted before.”

Yamaguchi and Kageyama watch wordlessly as Hinata laughs and waves goodbye to the two with a loud _good luck!_ as they disappear down the stairwell. They sit in silence for a little while longer before Yamaguchi looks up at Kageyama, who is already looking at him with a questioning look in his eyes.

Yamaguchi sighs, “we probably should talk.”

***

“I want to introduce you to my mum,” Hinata says as he lays on the makeshift futon. They’re in an old classroom turned research room, one that’s never used as it’s now mostly used as storage for outdated or broken things around the school. Hinata had gotten the key for this one only at the beginning of the new term, charming the school librarian enough for her to hand it over with little to no fuss.

Tsukishima, for all that he understands his boyfriend, still has _no clue_ just how he’s entrusted with all these keys – he’s pretty sure he has a key for Ukai’s store, given to him by their coach’s mother after a particularly rowdy afternoon tea with her.

“Shō, your mum already _knows me_. I tutor you at your place biweekly.” Tsukishima grumbles as he sits up, leaning over to get a small packet of wet wipes from his discarded school pants. He takes one out and moves back to Hinata, wiping the sticky mess off his stomach.

“What does biweekly mean?” Hinata asks before shaking his head. “No, you don’t get it. I want to _introduce you to my mum_.” He pauses, most likely for effect. “ _As my boyfriend_.”

Tsukishima tenses up from where he’s bundling up the wet wipe and snaps his head to look back at his boyfriend. Hinata sits there innocently – as innocently as possible while naked in an abandoned classroom after having sex – and simply looks at Tsukishima with curiosity.

Tsukishima shakes his head minutely, “no, absolutely not. We already agreed we wouldn’t tell people until at least next year,” he says with a finality that suggests this is not open for discussion.

Hinata seems to think otherwise.

“Kei, that was when we didn’t know how people would react! Tadashi and Yama-Yama both know and don’t care! Suga-san, Asahi-san _and_ Daichi-san all found out _today_ and even said they support us!” Hinata cries, sitting up fully and pulling his top back on. “Besides, we both know that ‘at least next year’ will be the same thing when we actually _get_ to next year,” he grumbles.

Tsukishima’s eyes sharpen, only because he knows that the ginger is correct. He’d very much like to put this off indefinitely. “None of that matters, they’re not our parents so how they act doesn’t dictate how our parents will act. And we don’t _know_ how our parents will act.”

“Well, you might not.” Hinata continues to grumble before he seems to realise what he’s said and looks at the taller in apprehension.

Tsukishima inhales shortly at this, eyes widening slightly, “what did you say?”

Hinata sighs, running a hand through his hair as he looks away. “I came out to my mum last night!” He admits, but quickly looks back at Tsukishima. “Don’t worry! I didn’t say anything about our relationship, but she accepted me Kei! She said she was happy I felt safe enough to tell her! And she really likes you after all the times you’ve been over, she’ll be _super happy_ to know you’re my boyfriend!” He looks up at Tsukishima hopefully, anticipation glimmering in his eyes at the thought of being able to have him over not as a _study buddy_ but as his _boyfriend_.

But Tsukishima isn’t really thinking about that right now, too wrapped up in his own anxiety of being out, of the possibility of his own family finding out. In truth, he doesn’t really know how they’d react. They’ve never expressed any negativity towards gay people before, never really shown any opinion on them in fact. And it’s this lack of certainty that causes Tsukishima to freeze up, to doubt that his family would be so accepting and open-minded.

It’s not like Tsukishima’s thinking this because he wants to and he knows, logically, that it’d be easy to determine just how his parents would feel about him being gay and having a boyfriend without actually telling them he’s – you know, gay and has a boyfriend. But every time he’s tried to breach the topic in the past he’s frozen up, breath leaving him and hands going clammy and shaky, making any word he tries to get out stick in his throat.

And it’s not like Tsukishima thinks any of this without some level of guilt. They haven’t said it yet but Tsukishima _knows_ that his infatuation with the ginger has gone past just that, has transcended into a territory closely resembling _love_. And he also knows that Hinata must be feeling all sorts of negative emotions with how adamantly Tsukishima refuses to come out.

But he just- _can’t_. His overthinking and paranoia stop him whenever he even _thinks_ about it.

So Tsukishima simply shakes his head again, this time a little more frantic, and licks his lips as his eyes dart between the floor and Hinata’s face, which has moved much closer to him during his silence.

“Shō, I- I _can’t,_ ” he whispers, voice breaking as he looks back at his boyfriend. Hinata’s face falls, crumples in a way that Tsukishima _wish_ he could prevent, wish he could make go away forever.

But he can’t.

“Are…” Hinata starts slowly, eyes shinier than they were a few seconds ago. “Are you… ashamed of- of us?”

Tsukishima’s eyes widen and he brings his hands up to cup Hinata’s face, smoothing his hair and wiping the few tears that spill from his eyes, “No! No Shō, God- _no_! Never, it’s- it’s _not_ you- _fuck_ , it’s _not us_. It’s-” he’s cut off by a choked sound coming from his throat, tears wanting to form in his eyes from the mere _thought_ that Hinata would ever think Tsukishima is ashamed of them – of _him_.

“It’s you,” Hinata finishes sadly. Tsukishima looks away, biting his lip as he nods. He keeps his hold on Hinata’s face, wanting some form of contact with the shorter boy, and almost panics when he feels him pull away.

He looks at Hinata, who’s stood to get dressed, leaving Tsukishima gripping at the blanket on the floor before he also starts to dress.

“Shō,” he says softly after a minute of silence, but gets no answer. He tries again when they’re both dressed, Hinata facing the door but not moving a muscle. “Shō? Shōyō, talk to me,” when this gets no answer, he pleads, “ _please_.”

“What do you want me to say Kei?” Hinata finally asks, looking back at his boyfriend with tears streaming down his face. “I’m ready, but if you’re not I can’t force you- I _won’t_. But it still _hurts_ and I can’t just pretend it doesn’t.”

Tsukishima just nods lamely, not really sure what else to say.

“I’m sorry, Shōyō. _Please_ , I’m so sorry,” Tsukishima says, but he knows it’s worthless because he can’t bring himself to do what’ll fix this – what’ll let them progress further together.

“I know, Kei,” Hinata sighs softly. “I just wish you would at least _try_ before deciding it’s not worth it – that, _we’re_ not worth it.”

And with that, Hinata leaves Tsukishima, walking out of the room without a second glance, leaving him alone with his thoughts and his regret and his guilt and his _cowardice_.

***

They sit in silence for a long while after Yamaguchi says that. Kageyama isn’t really sure how to progress. After his declaration to Hinata and Tsukishima his confidence has gone on a confusing and nauseating roller coaster ride.

It shook when he and Yamaguchi walked home together the very day he made his decision, purposely left by the middle blockers with an exaggerated wink (from Hinata) and a condescending smirk (from Tsukishima). It was probably meant to be encouraging, but all it did was make him _extremely_ paranoid because _what if Yamaguchi saw that and realised what was going to happen and is disgusted_.

As they were about to go their separate ways he was _almost certain_ that was exactly what was going to happen, as Yamaguchi stopped them with a nervous smile and a _I need to tell you something_. Kageyama was so convinced that the freckled boy had figured out what was going on and short circuited, near-yelling that his sister was waiting for him for dinner – despite the sun still being in the sky and his sister being at work.

But he just wasn’t _ready_ to have his heart broken before he even had a chance to properly express himself.

So he’d called Hinata that night and told him what happened. And after having to wait through a _ten-minute laughing break_ he was hit with a bunch of insults that he definitely learnt from Tsukishima and then a pep talk that actually did help him in the end.

Over the weekend he discussed it with himself to the point where he decided that _whatever_ the outcome he was going to tell Yamaguchi _exactly_ what he felt for the pinch server and let him know that he _will_ take his rejection with dignity.

Except that plan went to hell when Yamaguchi would avoid Kageyama at the slightest sign of confrontation. They still went about their week fairly normally, had even been completely fine during gym class today when Tsukishima had gone off to find Hinata, but when Kageyama would find the courage to ask if they could talk, the green-haired boy would suddenly vanish.

In total, Kageyama had ran away from one attempt and had been run away _from_ eight separate times. It really was doing nothing for his confidence. The only blessing was that Hinata was able to reign him in enough that it didn’t affect practice during the week.

Sometimes his best friend is useful.

Right now is one of those times because Yamaguchi actually wants to _talk_. Well, he’s not leaving despite the obvious impending conversation. But Kageyama is sure that Yamaguchi is just waiting for him to talk first, probably wants him to just come clean so he can reject the setter with no misunderstandings.

That hurts Kageyama more than he’d care to admit. He doesn’t know when exactly in the weekend he’d resigned himself to the only option being rejection, but after seeing how Yamaguchi actively avoided any opportunity for them to talk about it, he knew that that was the only possible outcome for him expressing his feelings.

He also seriously contemplated just _not_ telling Yamaguchi, didn’t want to risk the friendship they’d built up, but on one of his many – _many_ – calls to Hinata that weekend his best friend had pointed out that if he just kept it bottled up it would, knowing him, explode in the most inappropriate and untimely manner.

That was how the two spent an inordinate amount of time coming up with a list of pointers and conversation starters, as well as some _do’s_ and _don’ts_ of confessing. Kageyama had tried to protest that as long as he got a decent amount of time alone with Yamaguchi he could figure it out himself, but when Hinata reminded him that after being so worried about Hinata when he almost got hit by a car he stared for ten seconds before yelling _that was a stupid thing to do, dumbass!_ he relented.

Kageyama thinks back on the list, hidden inside one of his notebooks, and ponders what would be most appropriate to say right now. He doesn’t think it’s right to just start with an _I like you_ and he doesn’t know if he could eloquently segue from light conversation to the actual confession.

It’s as Kageyama decides that, since it’s Thursday, he should start the conversation off talking about their arrangement and then express how he wants something more, that he notices Yamaguchi being ready to say something.

Kageyama’s stomach flips, because Yamaguchi probably thinks this is taking too long and just wants to get his rejection over and done with, and he panics, saying the first thing that comes to mind.

“I want to end our arrangement!” Kageyama rushes out, slightly flubbing his words.

And, _God no_ , that is _not_ how he intended that to come out _at all_. He had _intended_ to start off with a casual _so, about our arrangement_ and ease into it. He had _intended_ to mention wanting to _change_ the nature of their arrangement. He had _intended_ to end it by saying he wanted to change it because he had feelings for him.

Of course, only Kageyama could completely stuff up a _planned_ confession with a fucking _guide_ written down and everything.

Yamaguchi stares at him blank-faced and Kageyama can feel a bead of sweat dripping down his forehead. He buries his face in his hands and groans, “No! No, I didn’t- I mean- _Ugh!_ ” He stutters out, which – _lame_. How Kageyama manages to sabotage himself so _badly_ is a mystery, truly.

Kageyama is absolutely positive he was a war criminal in his past life. Curse his past self for allowing all this bad karma to fall onto him.

Kageyama breathes in deeply and exhales slowly, “that came out wrong. Look, I want to end our arrangement because-”

“You don’t have to say it!” Yamaguchi interrupts and Kageyama’s face shoots out of his hands. His breath hitches when he notices just how _shiny_ the freckled boy’s eyes are and realises that he’s trying _not to cry_. It leaves the setter so stumped he almost doesn’t hear when the other boy continues. “I- I get it, you know? I get it!”

“Wait, what do you-” Kageyama tries to ask because this is _not_ going how he had planned it _at all_. He didn’t expect to rush into this conversation, he didn’t expect to not be able to finish his confession, and he _definitely_ didn’t expect for Yamaguchi to be _crying_.

And Yamaguchi continues to surprise him, as he abruptly jumps up from his cross-legged position. “I’m sorry! We should just completely stop everything, huh? Bit stupid to continue now? I’ll, uh-” Yamaguchi cuts himself off with a quick clearing of his throat, words sounding watery and barely put together. Kageyama tries to reach out to him, to offer him some kind of support, to ask to be let to _finish_ _his damn confession before being so bluntly rejected_.

But Yamaguchi steps back, eyes downcast and tears now freely flowing down his bright red face. Kageyama’s heart clenches at the same time his hand does, grabbing nothing but air as Yamaguchi continues to step back.

“I’m… I’m so sorry,” is the last thing Yamaguchi says before running over to the door and disappearing down the stairs, leaving an agitated, confused and _heartbroken_ Kageyama in his wake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooft lemme tell you - I can't write angst for shit. I love angst and I actually am obsessed with an idea I've had for a little while that centres around my OT4 with the first years and A N G S T (it's about them during the time skip and is canon divergent and I'm genuinely OBSESSED with it). And as badly as I want to write that, I probably won't until I get a better grasp on how to make it hurt lol.
> 
> But hope this wasn't too terrible! I want to try and finish this in the next couple days, so see you soon!


	4. Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh hey, here's the final chapter of this story I guess.
> 
> It took a couple days longer than I thought it would and the ending might seem a bit rushed, but before I knew it I had hit 6000 words and I liked the idea of all my chapters having about the same word count.
> 
> Hope it doesn't suck too bad!

Yamaguchi spends the rest of the week and half of next week avoiding Kageyama as best he can.

It’s not too hard honestly, they share only the one Thursday morning class together and their drills rarely overlap at practice because of the difference in focus. The one thing Yamaguchi was initially worried about was the walk to and from practice – because that’s his _routine_ now and he still isn’t sure how to go about abruptly changing that – but the very Thursday that everything turned to _shit_ from him and Kageyama, the same seemed to happen to Tsukishima and Hinata.

All four of them declined extra practice, which shocked their upperclassmen, and while Yamaguchi, Tsukishima and Kageyama seemed to dawdle in leaving, Hinata was out like a flash, dragging their setter with him with only a brief goodbye to the other two.

On the walk home, now just the two childhood friends, Yamaguchi had tried to breach the subject, knew that _something_ had happened between lunch and then. When all he got was a _don’t worry about something that you’re only imagining_ , he decided that Tsukishima would come to him in his own time if he needed it – Yamaguchi is well aware of the workings of Tsukishima Kei.

At first, Kageyama also seemed intent on avoiding Yamaguchi, never seeking the pinch server out and rarely hanging around if the other happened to be there. And this was causing a conflicting array of emotion to stir within him.

Okay yes, _technically_ Yamaguchi was the one to walk out on their conversation that lunch; but what is a man that’s about to be rejected supposed to do? Logically, Yamaguchi knows he should’ve been more mature and actually taken his rejection in stride, but when Kageyama _started off_ with wanting to end their arrangement he panicked.

Their arrangement, while sexual at base level, meant a lot of things to Yamaguchi – it was truly the beginning of his and Kageyama’s friendship, it was a large part in his boost of self-confidence in the last couple of months, it was what _made him realise_ he has feelings for Kageyama. And Kageyama wanted to take that away, was so abhorred by the mere _thought_ of Yamaguchi thinking of him as more than a friend that he wanted to cut off almost all contact with him.

And Yamaguchi couldn’t take it at the time.

Now, almost a week on, he’s starting to accept it. After spending the weekend to himself and thinking it over he decided that, while it _hurt like a bitch_ , he couldn’t jeopardise all the things in his life over some rejected feelings. The team would suffer, his friendship group would suffer, _Kageyama_ would suffer – and Yamaguchi didn’t want that at all. Kageyama is his friend first and foremost and Yamaguchi doesn’t want to lose that, he just needs a little bit more time to fully accept his rejection and move on.

So when Kageyama seemed to change his tune on Monday and started relentlessly pursuing Yamaguchi, he was frightened to say the least.

It started off harmlessly enough, Kageyama joined the other three first years on the Monday morning before practice, like usual. But when he tried to pull Yamaguchi aside after morning practice to talk, Yamaguchi made a speedy escape, leaving before he himself had even realised what he’d done.

It only got more aggressive from there.

Afternoon practice on Monday saw Kageyama dibs Yamaguchi for spiking practice – unnecessary seeing as Yamaguchi was trying to focus more on receives – and try and talk to him then. Tuesday morning saw Kageyama coming earlier than Hinata and shooing Tsukishima off. Tuesday lunch had Yamaguchi hiding as Kageyama waited outside his classroom for him. Wednesday lunch ended with Kageyama _soaking wet_ because he’d been shoved into the pool after trying to lock in Yamaguchi in an attempt to force him to talk. The key was apparently provided by Hinata – because of course it was.

Now it’s Thursday afternoon. Yamaguchi had successfully avoided the setter in both morning and afternoon practice, gym class, and at lunch. A day of remaining hyper-vigilant at all times for the presence of the raven-haired boy had deflated him so much that he’s already in bed at it isn’t even dark outside.

He doesn’t know how much longer he can last before one of them gives in – and he’s almost certain that it won’t be Kageyama who does. He’s not even entirely sure what the setter wants. Did he want to properly finish his rejection? To fully drive into Yamaguchi just how _uninterested_ in dating the other boy he is? It seems highly unlikely, seeing as Kageyama isn’t cruel – just _dumb_ – but it’s the most obvious answer right now, so it’s the one he’s going off.

Yamaguchi is so deep into his self-lamenting that it takes a long while before he hears the tapping on his window, accompanied by a softly hissed _Tadashi_ every other tap. He shoots out from under his covers and spins around to his window, petrified as to how a _ghost_ is able to climb up so high. Can ghosts climb trees? Wait, do ghosts even _need_ to climb trees? Couldn’t they just float up to his room? In fact, wouldn’t a ghost-

“ _Oh my god_ , ‘Dashi open up!” A yell interrupts him _again_. Can this ghost just let him wallow in self-pity _alone_? He looks out the window and sees the ghost perched on the branch he used to use to sneak out to see Tsukishima when he was still in middle school. It’s tiny, definitely shorter than him, with an exasperated looking face and bright orange hair-

Oh, it’s Hinata.

“ _Hinata?!_ ” He exclaims loudly as he pushes open his window. A hand clasps over his mouth and he looks up to see Hinata holding a finger to his lips, telling him to quiet down. “Sorry,” he says once the hand leaves his face before realising he really _shouldn’t_ have to apologise. “Wait no! What are you doing here?!”

Hinata huffs, “can’t you invite me in first? I don’t want to fall and break a leg or something!”

Yamaguchi raises an eyebrow and crosses his arms over his chest but moves to the side for Hinata to move through anyway. Once Hinata has landed in his room he speaks up, “why don’t you just come in through the front door like a normal friend would?”

Hinata looks at him incredulously. “Because I don’t have your key yet,” he says in such a tone that Yamaguchi almost believes that makes sense. Except two things stick out – one, _why_ would Hinata have his key, two, _yet_? He voices the first concern.

“ _Why_ would you have my key? Also someone would _answer the door_ if you knocked.”

“I don’t have your key so I can’t use the front door,” Hinata states firmly, completely disregarding Yamaguchi as he sits on his desk, crossing his legs. “By the way,” he says once he’s settled, looking directly into Yamaguchi’s eyes. It’s slightly unnerving. “Can I have a copy of your house key?”

Yamaguchi gawks and lets out an indignant noise, “No! Absolutely not! What made you think I’d say yes?”

Hinata huffs out again, “I thought I’d give it a try before trying the hard thing.”

Yamaguchi raises an eyebrow _again_ , arms still crossed. “ _The hard thing_?” He repeats. That does _not_ sound promising in any respect.

Hinata leans back on his arms, taking a moment to look around the room before stating, “so, you rejected Kageyama.”

Yamaguchi groans because, _of course_ , Hinata would be here for this. He face plants onto his bed, continuing to groan for an inordinate amount of time. To his credit, Hinata just sits there silently, letting Yamaguchi get all the drama out of his system.

Finally, he turns his head to the left and gives a disbelieving look to Hinata. “You didn’t try to sneak into my house _just_ to ask me about this did you?” He asks in a lame attempt to deflect. Once Hinata is determined he won’t stop until he’s got what he wants.

This time, it’s answers.

Hinata raises an eyebrow and scoffs. “Don’t _just_ me, Tadashi. What did Kei and I tell you? We told you to _go for it_ and what do you do?” He pauses for just a second before continuing, “you don’t even let the guy tell you what he wants to tell you, run away and then _ignore him for a week_.” Hinata shakes his head and somehow makes Yamaguchi feel the guiltiest he has all week. It’s truly a feat to be able to disappoint the _one_ person who doesn’t even understand _how_ to be disappointed. “What the _fuck_ , Tadashi?”

Yamaguchi let’s out a startled grunt at that, “the Hinata from April wouldn’t have said the _f-word_.”

Hinata snorts back, “the Hinata from April also wouldn’t have had sex with his boyfriend in eight different spots on school grounds.” _Eight_? Yamaguchi doesn’t want to delve further so badly that he’s actually willing to _talk_. Hinata visibly softens up as he looks over Yamaguchi, still planted firmly on his front with his head tilted to look at the ginger.

Something in the pinch server’s expression must cause him to change tactics because he sighs before leaning forward to put his elbows on his knees, head resting on his hands. “Seriously ‘Dashi, why’d you just run off?” He asks quietly, all bluntness gone from his voice, replaced with genuine concern that makes Yamaguchi _hurt_.

Yamaguchi’s a coward, he really doesn’t deserve that.

He sighs in return, pulling himself up to lean on his wall, head hanging between his shoulders to look down as he picks at his bed spread. After a brief moment to collect himself, he shrugs. “I… I don’t know. I just- I… I was so _scared_ to be rejected you know?” He looks up with pleading eyes, meeting Hinata’s chocolate brown ones. “And I _know_ what you and Tsukki told me, but I just was so _paranoid_. Like-” he cuts off as his voice gets caught in his throat, a wave emotions coming up simultaneously after being oppressed for a week. “Like _how_ is being rejected by the guy I really like and have been _kissing_ for two months supposed to not hurt? I get the whole being-open-with-your-emotions-relieves-stress thing or whatever, but that just… that just wouldn’t work with me.”

Yamaguchi doesn’t realise he’s crying until he feels a hand wipe at his cheek. His vision is blurred, too blurry to have noticed Hinata silently moving from his spot on the desk to his bed, sitting beside him and gently cradling his face.

Yamaguchi sniffles, a watery laugh leaving his lips. “ _God_ , I must look so embarrassing right now. I’m so sorry,” he says as Hinata continues to wipe his face and his eyes.

Eventually the tears stop, and the freckled boy gets a good look at his friend and expects to still see that look of disappointment on his face, only to be met with a gentle smile.

Hinata smiles slightly wider as he sees Yamaguchi’s brows furrow. “You’re such an idiot, Tadashi.

Yamaguchi lets out an indignant noise because – _rude_. “ _What_? I just _poured my heart_ out to you and that’s _all_ you can say?! I get you’re on Kageyama’s side, but-”

“I’m not on anyone’s _side_!” Hinata interrupts, but his face remains open and kind. “There’s not sides in this, just two people that need to let their feelings out. And yeah, you can feel bad about not letting Kageyama get his feelings out all you want- don’t interrupt me, you know I’m right.” _He is right_. “But did you ever stop to think this week about how you didn’t get to get _your_ feelings out?”

This makes Yamaguchi pause.

He thinks back on their conversation, remembers how he was formulating how he was going to confess in his head before his train of thought was derailed disastrously by Kageyama’s words. But after that all his thoughts were occupied with trying to accept the blue-eyed boy’s rejection and… he completely forgot about trying to confess.

 _What use would it have done anyway?_ He thinks snidely, but when he addresses this to Hinata he just gets a little shake of the head.

“How’s someone meant to reject something they don’t even know about?” Yamaguchi opens his mouth to correct this because Kageyama _did_ know about Yamaguchi’s feelings, why else would he want to talk? “ _Tadashi_ , you can’t just _assume_ what someone knows. You’ve got to-” Hinata cuts himself off and as lets out a huffed breath, drawing back his hands to cross his arms and glare out the window.

There’s another beat of silence before he sighs and looks at Yamaguchi with a grave expression, “Kei said I really shouldn’t say anything, but-” He pauses again, and Yamaguchi just wants him to hurry up because – shouldn’t say anything about _what_? “Remember how I said we wouldn’t tell you to do something if it’d hurt you?” Yamaguchi nods at this, still confused. “I told Kageyama the same thing earlier that day.”

_What?_

Yamaguchi doesn’t know how to process that information. What could Kageyama possibly need to say that won’t hurt him? The rejection? But Hinata wouldn’t actively be involved in planning out a friend’s rejection, would he?

But in conjunction with what he told Yamaguchi that day, a rejection wouldn’t make the most sense. So _what_ could Kageyama need to say that he thinks would hurt him?

Yamaguchi puts his head in his hands and scrubs hard. What Hinata just told him wasn’t information heavy, but he just can’t seem to make any sense of it. After an exhausting week of emotional turmoil, mental strain and physical exertion, he can’t even fathom the true meaning behind those words. All he can think is-

“I need to talk to him,” he says as he lifts his head up, resolutely looking at Hinata who’s face completely changes. His eyes brighten as his smile widens and his face takes on its characteristic sunshine-esque quality.

“You need to talk to him!” The ginger repeats with vigour.

“I’m going to talk to him tomorrow morning,” Yamaguchi decides, because he needs this done as soon as possible.

“You’re going to talk to him tomorrow morning!” Hinata parrots, and Yamaguchi would be lying if he said the hype wasn’t helping his decision.

“And I won’t stop until I’ve told him how I feel.” No more interruptions or second guessing, he’s going to _do it_.

“And you’re going to give me your house key!” Hinata exclaims.

“And I’m going to give you my- wait, what?” This throws Yamaguchi off, focusing his gaze to look at Hinata’s sheepish one. Hinata just sits there expectantly, like it’s only natural for Yamaguchi to now give him a copy of his house key.

Yamaguchi internally debates for a second before making a decision. He probably would still be wallowing if it wasn’t for Hinata’s random arrival on his tree branch, after all.

“I’ll give you a copy at school tomorrow,” is all he says before Hinata throws himself at the green-haired boy, sending them both crashing to the ground in a laughing heap.

And even though he’s now lying on his floor, wood digging into his back and Hinata’s weight on top of him, he can’t help but think this is the lightest he’s felt all week.

***

Kageyama’s slowly starting to accept that after Yamaguchi’s half rejection he won’t ever get the chance to properly confess.

In fact, he _did_ accept it at first, knew it was coming and was ready to live with it. But when Hinata had spent over seven hours with the setter on Sunday encouraging him to at least tell him anyway, if not to just bring closure to himself, Kageyama’s drive was reignited.

But as Yamaguchi got craftier and craftier with his attempts to avoid Kageyama, it had come to the point where he thinks that talking to the freckled boy will be nothing more than a burden to him. And if there’s one thing Kageyama doesn’t want, it’s to be somebody’s _burden_.

He’s experienced that before; he doesn’t want to experience it again.

So that’s how he finds himself in the park nearby their school, sitting under a tree and watching the setting sun while rolling a volleyball back and forth. Yamaguchi had dashed away right after practice, this time through a _window_ , and Kageyama was too pent up to go home straight away.

It took only a half hour of serving the ball before he was too tired to move, but not tired enough to not think, forcing him to just sit alone with his thoughts.

All in all, a terrible outcome.

He’s pulled out of his thoughts by the sudden disappearance of light, a person blocking the light of the sun. He looks up to see Tsukishima standing before him, practice clothes still on and headphones around his neck.

“Fuck, what are you doing here?” He says before he can stop himself.

Tsukishima just rolls his eyes and sits down in front of him, causing the sun to come back with full intensity. “I could say the same about you,” the blonde says.

“No seriously, _why_ are you here?” Kageyama asks.

Tsukishima raises his eyebrow and shrugs, “I could ask the same of you. Practice wasn’t hard enough today with all the drills Nishinoya-san made us do?”

Kageyama looks down at the ball in his hands and stays quiet for a moment, thinking on what he can say to the taller boy without being made fun of. “Just had a lot to think about,” he settles on, looking up at Tsukishima, who looks at him in a way he can’t decipher.

The look is gone almost instantly as he snorts, “Let me guess. You got rejected by Yamaguchi, who won’t listen to your confession no matter what and now you’re giving up?” Kageyama gapes at this, mouth opening and closing as he tries to word his shock at how Tsukishima basically _read his mind_. “Yamaguchi is my best friend and Shōyō is yours,” he says before the setter can actually formulate a question.

Kageyama shuts his mouth and nods mutely, remembering that Tsukishima was basically there to witness everything except the actual confession – rejection? He’s not sure how to characterise the conversation.

Tsukishima sighs and leans in slightly. “Look, I’m not going to pretend I really _care_ about how you feel, but I care about Yamaguchi and I care about Shōyō. So – and listen well idiot, I’m never going to give you advice again – don’t give up just yet. Trust Yams and trust Shō, okay?”

Silence follows. Mostly because Kageyama doesn’t know what to say in response, he never really expected to get advice from _Tsukishima_ of all people. But here he is, in some little park, sun almost gone, sweaty and stinky from overexertion, and _Tsukishima Kei_ has just given him advice.

Kageyama would rather cut off a finger before admitting that the fact that it’s Tsukishima who’s given him this piece of advice makes him believe in it wholeheartedly.

“Okay,” he says as he nods, “did… Hinata tell you what happened on Sunday?” Tsukishima simply nods, offering nothing else. “Even with… what happened last week?” He cringes as he says it, unsure as to _why_ he felt the need to bring it up.

Kageyama doesn’t actually _know_ what happened between Hinata and him last Thursday, only that they weren’t talking to each other for the rest of that day and all of Friday. He had tried to bring it up on Sunday, but Hinata deflected so well he didn’t remember that he never got an answer until he saw the two talking like normal the next day.

“That was…” Tsukishima starts and _oh_ , he’s actually willing to share. In their friendship group of four, Kageyama knows the least about the blonde, but he knows enough that if Tsukishima willingly talks about something he’s desperate for some help. “It was all my fault.”

Kageyama stews in this for a minute, unsure about how to respond. He doesn’t think he should ask _what_ his fault was exactly, doesn’t think he’ll get an answer.

“Did you find a solution?” Kageyama asks instead, thinks that maybe asking about the resolution of the issue is the way to go. When he sees Tsukishima contemplating in his head he knows it is.

“I have,” Tsukishima says slowly, carefully, like he’s trying to find the right words for what he’s about to say. “But I don’t know if I’m capable of carrying it out.”

Kageyama nods, “well, is there anything stopping you?” Tsukishima tilts his head slightly but gives a small shake _no_. “Is there any _one_ stopping you?” The blonde opens his mouth but closes it again as he shakes his head. Kageyama nods again, “if there’s nothing in your way, what’s stopping you from getting what you want?”

The causes the two to sit in silence for what might be construed as an uncomfortable amount of time but considering that both of them _prefer_ silence to noise, it’s almost peaceful. They continue to sit there, both contemplating what the other has said, until Tsukishima stands up.

Kageyama follows, volleyball tucked under his arm and bag on his shoulder. They look at each other, analysing the other for a few seconds before Tsukishima gives a small nod.

Kageyama gives one in return and then they turn away from each other, walking back to their respective homes, each with a robustness that they didn’t possess before their awkward conversation.

Kageyama decides as he heads into his house that he’s going to confess tomorrow, and that he’ll scream his feelings to Yamaguchi across the gym tomorrow morning if he has to.

***

Hinata doesn’t think he’s ever hated Kageyama.

When he lost his very first volleyball, he didn’t hate him. When he got him kicked out of practice that very first day, he didn’t hate him. When he wouldn’t toss to him, he didn’t hate him. When he wouldn’t try doing a new quick, he didn’t hate him.

But today, on this Friday morning, as they ride down the hill to school, with Kageyama balancing on his back wheel, he’s never hated anyone more in his life.

Because, for once in his life, Kageyama will _not_ stop talking – and he’s talking about _absolutely nothing_. He’ll start a sentence, stop halfway through, and then start a _new_ sentence that sounds vaguely similar to the one beforehand. Rinse and repeat.

Hinata knows he can be mind-numbing sometimes, but if anyone complains about him ever again he’s going to subject them to what his volleyball partner is subjecting him to right now.

He should probably cut his best friend some slack, considering he’s almost certain that the boy’s bumbling is about Yamaguchi, but after hearing about it for hours on end each day for over a week, he’s just hoping that what he said to the pinch server last night worked.

He loves his friends, but he’d love them more together – for both selfish and selfless reasons.

Hinata breathes an audible sigh of relief when the school comes into view, peddling faster and almost causing Kageyama to lose his balance. However, this just forces the setter to stop his incessant muttering, which further relieves the ginger.

He’s usually not this bad of a friend, he’s just had a rough night. After leaving Yamaguchi’s he’d gone to Tsukishima’s to study. They made up pretty quickly after what happened Thursday lunch, unable to stay upset with each other for very long.

That being said, their version of making up was just ignoring the issue. They were in a stalemate, both unyielding in their wants, Hinata in his to be out with his family and Tsukishima in his to _not_ be. And while Hinata is still hurt over it and is still wanting to bring up the idea of introducing the blonde as his boyfriend to his mum, he also knows that forcing the taller boy into it is going to solve nothing and ruin everything.

Hinata also knows that Tsukishima himself is having the most trouble with what happened on Thursday and Hinata doesn’t want to be adding fuel to the fire by constantly nagging, reminding his boyfriend of his own insecurities.

So he’s resolved to ignore it for now, come back to it when some time has passed and maybe Tsukishima has become more comfortable in letting others know about himself. Until then, Hinata has decided he’s _okay_ to remain secret.

That doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt when his boyfriend’s mum starts nagging him about getting a girlfriend right in front of him. It had happened as Hinata was leaving, studying having been forgotten in favour of _other_ activities, walking to the door after saying his goodbyes. His mother was scrolling through some social media and, from what she said, was stopped on a post of her friend’s on and his girlfriend.

The ensuing tirade was shut down as soon as it began, but Hinata couldn’t hide the hurt he felt when Tsukishima shut the door behind them. Even his boyfriend’s tight hug, gentle kiss on the head and whispered _I’m sorry_ did nothing for the ginger, who had simply shaken his head, smiled and said _it’s okay, I’ll see you tomorrow_ before all put sprinting off.

Hinata shakes his head clear as they approach the school gate, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi already waiting for them. From the determined look on the latter’s face, Hinata knows that the saga between his two friends will finally conclude right here, right now, and promptly decides to dwell on his remaining feelings later.

Right now he’ll be the happy friend and apologetic boyfriend.

Kageyama and Hinata dismount the bike, but Kageyama immediately strides to Yamaguchi. Hinata saddles up to Tsukishima, bike leaning against fence, and gently takes his bigger hand in his own smaller one. Tsukishima looks down quizzically and opens his mouth to say what is probably an apology.

Hinata just shakes his head and raises their joined hands to kiss the back of the blonde’s softly before looking up and smiling brightly at him. Tsukishima visibly softens, face melting into something resembling a smile, and pulls their hands up to kiss the back of Hinata’s too, making the ginger blush slightly.

Tsukishima looks away, causing Hinata to look at where his gaze has been pulled. In front of them stand Yamaguchi and Kageyama, who are looking at each other intensely. They’ve probably been standing like that for at least 30 seconds and Hinata thanks everything that they get to school earlier than almost everyone else otherwise this would’ve been awkward.

Finally, Kageyama clears his throat, “Yamaguchi, I need to tell you something. And I need you to not interrupt me.”

Yamaguchi flushes slightly, eyes widening as he nods just a little bit. “I- uh, I need to tell you something, too.”

Kageyama nods, eyes steeled, but says, “I think I should go first because I know what you want to say.”

Yamaguchi shakes his head at this, brows furrowing slightly, “I really think I should go first. I don’t really want to be rejected before I get a chance to confess properly.”

Hinata’s eyes widen at this because _holy shit_ he didn’t think Yamaguchi could be so _blunt_. He looks at Kageyama who has near _short circuited_ from the new information he’s been given. His eyebrows furrow and his head tilts as he processes the words before his entire face drops into a blank stare. He looks at a spot just past Yamaguchi, who’s paled considerably in response to Kageyama’s response.

Yamaguchi must realise just how _straightforward_ his words were because his face blooms bright red and he tries to stammer out an explanation, but Kageyama takes two long strides to him and grabs him by the pinch server by the biceps. Yamaguchi squeaks and stops speaking and the two look into each other’s wide eyes for an uncomfortable amount of time, faces only centimetres apart.

Hinata almost looks away, feeling as if he’s intruding on _something_. But when he decides to do it, Yamaguchi leans forward, obviously having seen _something_ in Kageyama’s eyes, and plants his lips gently on the raven-haired boy’s.

Kageyama makes a noise of surprise before closing his eyes and pushing his lips further onto Yamaguchi’s, who sighs in response and circles his arms around the setter’s shoulders as Kageyama’s hands leave his arms to grab hold of his waist.

Hinata is overwhelmingly happy then, his own issues and unfounded anger seeping out of him, being replaced by unadulterated _joy_. This is something that he’s witnessed grow for almost two months now, and while he didn’t know about their little arrangement he _did_ know about their feelings for each other.

After witnessing his two best friends helplessly pine for each other, relentlessly suck face and continuously misunderstand the other’s intentions, he was almost worried they’d _never_ get their shit together enough to realise just how much pining they both did for each other.

Sure, they still had some kinks to work out. Kageyama didn’t _actually_ say anything and Yamaguchi didn’t really even _start_ his confession, but Hinata can see just from this kiss – this very _impassioned_ kiss – that they’ll be okay.

When Kageyama presses Yamaguchi against the fence, pinning him with his hips and hands, Hinata thinks it is _very much_ a good time to leave. Tsukishima must think so too, because Hinata feels his boyfriend’s hand squeeze his before he’s leading them into school, Hinata’s bike left to be picked up by the newly formed couple.

Hinata isn’t sure that’s a great idea, but considering the bike is _right next to_ where they’re making out, he thinks it’s a noble sacrifice.

As they’re walking to the club room Tsukishima squeezes his hand again, pulling him from his daydreams. He looks up at the blonde with a questioning smile. “What’s up, Kei?” He asks.

“I was just thinking…” Tsukishima drifts off, slowing down slightly but not stopping. He licks his lips as he continues, “Do you want to come over tonight?”

Hinata doesn’t really want to, pettily doesn’t want to see Tsukishima’s mum right now. He nods yes, nonetheless. “Yeah okay, but why? I don’t usually come over Fridays.”

Tsukishima nods at that, eyes darting between the ginger’s face and the ground. “I… I want to introduce you to my parents.”

Hinata almost freezes at that, stopping momentarily as he processes the words. Tsukishima tugs him along in a silent bid to not make a fuss about it. Hinata lets himself be pulled, but before he moves again he looks up at Tsukishima, smile blinding and eyes bright but still questioning.

When Tsukishima gives him a gentle smile in return, a small nod in confirmation that _yes_ they are doing this, Hinata starts walking again.

He know just how _big_ this is for Tsukishima, how _not little_ this decision was for him to make. He also knows that not many words need to be said now, that the one thing they were divided on is now resolved, now put to rest in such a final way that it can’t be an issue again.

So Hinata just grips Tsukishima’s forearm with his free hand, squeezing lightly as he rests his head on the taller boy’s arm, and says, “I’d love to meet your parents, Kei.”

Tsukishima squeezes his hand back in return.

***

“I can’t believe you thought I was going to reject you!” Yamaguchi says for the _umpteenth_ time.

“You have no right to say that, you thought I was going to reject _you_ ,” Kageyama responds with what he’s responded with every time Yamaguchi has said that line that day. If he counted correctly, this was the 57th time.

“That’s believable, I mean look at _you_ compared to _me_ ,” Yamaguchi grumbles, but snuggles closer into Kageyama’s body.

They’re lying on Yamaguchi’s bed, having come straight to his place from after practice in a lovesick attempt to spend as much time alone as possible. Kageyama rests with his head on the headboard, arm around Yamaguchi, who is lying with his head on the setter’s shoulder, arms encircling his waist.

“An anti-social guy with anger management issues compared to a funny and smart guy with a little bit of an attitude and a lot of personality? Yamaguchi, there’s really not much to compare,” Kageyama says with no embarrassment, causing the freckled boy to blush hard and dig his face into his shoulder.

“Shut up,” Yamaguchi mumbles, making Kageyama laugh, his chuckle reverberating in his chest. Kageyama slides further down the bed and pulls Yamaguchi on top of him, the latter letting out a squeak at the sudden movement.

Once they’re settled, Kageyama lying on the bed with Yamaguchi straddling his hips, Kageyama smirks and pull the pinch server down softly by his hair, brushing their lips just slightly. He pulls back and looks into Yamaguchi’s eyes, embarrassment forgotten as his pupils blow wide with _want_ , his own eyes resembling those same desires and whispers softly, “make me.”

The words barely leave his lips before Yamaguchi surges forward, lips pressing hard into lips. Kageyama groans instantly, hands grabbing at Yamaguchi’s waist as he feels hands run across his chest. Instinctively, he pushes his hips up, grinding against the freckled boy who gasps wetly into the kiss before pushing his own hips down to meet his boyfriend’s.

They lose themselves in their movements, tongue moving against tongue, hips grinding against hips, breath mixing with breath. Shirts are lost, and then pants, until finally they’ve stripped their underwear off, too.

They don’t go much further than touching, too wrapped in the feeling of _finally_ being with each other to really explore, silently promising that they will soon. Instead they jerk each other to finish, gasps and moans interrupting their otherwise unending kiss, heated from the feel of each other’s skin alone.

Kageyama and Yamaguchi are thankful that Hinata and Tsukishima don’t barge in until they’ve gone under the blankets to keep languidly kissing after finishing and cleaning, considering they’re still naked.

The door slams open, revealing the couple, who look entirely blissful for reasons that the new couple remember to ask about later, and Hinata gasps before covering his eyes.

“Kei, look! They’ve already done it! They’re quicker than us!” Hinata exclaims as he walks blindly into the room.

Tsukishima snorts and pulls Hinata back out, saluting the two of them before starting to close the door. “You’re right, but maybe let’s _not_ enter their sex den.” They don’t even get the chance to rebut that before the door is closed again.

They stay silent for a few moments before Yamaguchi starts giggling into Kageyama’s shoulder. Kageyama groans, pulling Yamaguchi closer and burying his head in his freckled boyfriend’s hair.

“ _Why_ did you give Hinata a copy of your house key?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the end of my first fan fiction! Thanks to everyone who read it/gave kudos/commented, I was really appreciative and it made me feel good to know that other people liked this idea!
> 
> I hope the ending wasn't too rushed and didn't seem emotionally distant, I just felt like I'd explained both of their feelings from their own POV in such detail that having the actual confession be from a 3rd party POV would've been better (also I couldn't decide who's POV I wanted it to be from lol).
> 
> Catch ya for my next story, it'll either be:
> 
> \- a two-part angsty OT4 where KageTsukiYamaHina go through some ~~distance-based~~ issues  
> \- a pretty fucked up TsukiHina oneshot  
> \- an A/B/O where omegas are extinct
> 
> Thanks for reading! xx


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